I would like to bring to everybody’s attention a CD/MP3 playback problem that apparently affects to ALL CD/Radio in-dash units installed with the new 2008 BMW models.
Over the past three months that I’ve had a new 2008 335xi Coupe I noticed the following issues with the CD/Radio unit:
- The unit could not perform continuous playback of commercial audio CDs where there is no gap between songs (such as in a mix CD or a live CD) Instead, the unit pauses between songs during a second or two disrupting the continuous flow of the music.
- The unit could not play MP3 CDs without errors. Playback of MP3 CDs is affected by random bursts of a loud, piercing noise and/or loss of audio for several seconds.
To me, gapless playback of CDs and proper decoding and playback of MP3 are standard and expected features of any unit advertising as a CD/MP3 player, so to make sure that my audio CDs and MP3 CDs were not defective I tested them on my wife’s 2007 BMW 335Xi Sedan, on a friend’s 2006 VW Jetta, on my laptop and on my DVD/CD/MP3 player at home. In all cases they performed with NO problems at all. Furthermore, I’ve had the chance during the last two weeks to test other 2007 models (X3, 3 Series Wagon) and in both performance was flawless as well
So I took the car to my dealer last week assuming a defective CD/Radio unit. After having my car for three days (which included ordering a new CD/Radio unit) I was informed by the dealer of the following:
- The new CD/Radio unit showed the same problem.
- The dealer could reproduce non gapless playback problem in all the 2008 cars they tested in the showroom
- That after contacting again BMW of NA technical support they got this response “Radio cutting in between continuous play tracks IS A NORMAL CONDITION with the new HD radios in the 2008 cars. 2007 vehicles like wife’s car is not an HD radio”
To me this answer is not acceptable. This is NOT a normal condition. BMW 2007 models don’t have these issues nor any other CD/MP3 unit (car or stand-alone) that I have ever used for that matter. This is clearly a design problem with the 2008 audio system.
I contacted BMW of NA. They basically told me to put up with it “Sorry, 2007 and 2008 are different units…your feedback will be taken into account for future models”.
Some people may feel that this is not a big deal, but I spend 2 to 3 hours in the car every day and having a substandard audio unit really bothers me (even more when I know that earlier models perform just fine!)
Maybe if BMW receives enough complaints they will pay some attention and come up with a fix. So if there are 2008 model owners out there experiencing these issues and would like then fixed please send a complaint to BMW of NA.
Thanks for reading this rather long post…
J
Over the past three months that I’ve had a new 2008 335xi Coupe I noticed the following issues with the CD/Radio unit:
- The unit could not perform continuous playback of commercial audio CDs where there is no gap between songs (such as in a mix CD or a live CD) Instead, the unit pauses between songs during a second or two disrupting the continuous flow of the music.
- The unit could not play MP3 CDs without errors. Playback of MP3 CDs is affected by random bursts of a loud, piercing noise and/or loss of audio for several seconds.
To me, gapless playback of CDs and proper decoding and playback of MP3 are standard and expected features of any unit advertising as a CD/MP3 player, so to make sure that my audio CDs and MP3 CDs were not defective I tested them on my wife’s 2007 BMW 335Xi Sedan, on a friend’s 2006 VW Jetta, on my laptop and on my DVD/CD/MP3 player at home. In all cases they performed with NO problems at all. Furthermore, I’ve had the chance during the last two weeks to test other 2007 models (X3, 3 Series Wagon) and in both performance was flawless as well
So I took the car to my dealer last week assuming a defective CD/Radio unit. After having my car for three days (which included ordering a new CD/Radio unit) I was informed by the dealer of the following:
- The new CD/Radio unit showed the same problem.
- The dealer could reproduce non gapless playback problem in all the 2008 cars they tested in the showroom
- That after contacting again BMW of NA technical support they got this response “Radio cutting in between continuous play tracks IS A NORMAL CONDITION with the new HD radios in the 2008 cars. 2007 vehicles like wife’s car is not an HD radio”
To me this answer is not acceptable. This is NOT a normal condition. BMW 2007 models don’t have these issues nor any other CD/MP3 unit (car or stand-alone) that I have ever used for that matter. This is clearly a design problem with the 2008 audio system.
I contacted BMW of NA. They basically told me to put up with it “Sorry, 2007 and 2008 are different units…your feedback will be taken into account for future models”.
Some people may feel that this is not a big deal, but I spend 2 to 3 hours in the car every day and having a substandard audio unit really bothers me (even more when I know that earlier models perform just fine!)
Maybe if BMW receives enough complaints they will pay some attention and come up with a fix. So if there are 2008 model owners out there experiencing these issues and would like then fixed please send a complaint to BMW of NA.
Thanks for reading this rather long post…
J