MP3 player for 2001 BMW 540i E39

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VG - 17 Jun 2006 06:56 GMT

Hi,

I am new to this news group and so I apologize if someone has already asked
this. I am interested in changing out my stock CD player with something that
plays MP3 CDs. I am not interested in FM transmitters or plugins for MP3
players. I had stopped by Best Buy but most MP3 car audio players had knobs
which would interfere with the lid which goes over the stock CD player.

Does anyone have experience changing out their 540i CD players?

- VG

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John Carrier - 17 Jun 2006 13:31 GMT

Triple posting?

There is no aftermarket player that will fit the BMW business CD area and
allow the hinged cover to work. You can buy an adapter that'll fit a more
modern player into the BMW space (I think they are ugly) but the cover will
be removed in the installation.

If you insist on stock and NOT mp3 players (the dension icelink is a very
slick install for an ipod), then you can install an alpine CD/MP3 changer in
the trunk. It's mechanically identical to the BMW unit, but requires an
adapter from blitzsafe or similar to adapt its I-bus connection to the BMW
M-bus.

R / John

> Hi,
>
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> - VG

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Voinin - 17 Jun 2006 13:52 GMT

On 6/17/2006 5:31 AM, John Carrier went clickity-clack on the keyboard
and produced this interesting bit of text:

> Triple posting?
>
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> adapter from blitzsafe or similar to adapt its I-bus connection to the BMW
> M-bus.

Could you elaborate on this? I have an '94 E34 with the trunk-mounted
CD changer and it doesn't handle CDs with MP3s on it. I'd love to
upgrade this to increase the amount of music I can carry while lowering
the number of discs I haul around.

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John Carrier - 17 Jun 2006 19:20 GMT

> On 6/17/2006 5:31 AM, John Carrier went clickity-clack on the keyboard and
> produced this interesting bit of text:
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> this to increase the amount of music I can carry while lowering the number
> of discs I haul around.

Don't know the specifics of the E34 CD changer (Pioneer? Alpine?) nor the
car's bus. You should be able to do a Google for the information. I'm sure
that the maker of the OEM changer has a similar form factor CD/MP3 changer.
It will likely require a bus adapter ... there are several suppliers of such
on the market. I'm sure your car's head unit can (through the bus adapter)
control an MP3 unit ... although it will likely just list CD1-6 and tracks
01-100.

R / John

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Voinin - 17 Jun 2006 19:50 GMT

On 6/17/2006 11:20 AM, John Carrier went clickity-clack on the keyboard
and produced this interesting bit of text:

>> On 6/17/2006 5:31 AM, John Carrier went clickity-clack on the keyboard and
>> produced this interesting bit of text:
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
> control an MP3 unit ... although it will likely just list CD1-6 and tracks
> 01-100.

The last bit about listing the CDs and tracks is what I expected
considering the limitations of audio CDs (up to 99 tracks) so I'd just
keep all the songs in the root folder and limit the number. I'm not
sure who makes the changer either. What's the easiest way to find out?
I googled for info and it seems that both Alpine and Pioneer were used
for 91-94 without regard to body type. I found this page and it's
pretty confusing to me:

http://www.unofficialbmw.com/e34/stereo/e34_cd_changer.html

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I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.

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Voinin - 17 Jun 2006 20:03 GMT

On 6/17/2006 11:20 AM, John Carrier went clickity-clack on the keyboard
and produced this interesting bit of text:

Okay, my last message was a bit premature. It seems that when I push
the PROG/- buttons it says, "BMW PIONEER3". Unfortunately, I can't seem
to find anything on this. Man, this is frustrating.

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admin - 19 Jun 2006 15:03 GMT

> Okay, my last message was a bit premature. It seems that when I push
> the PROG/- buttons it says, "BMW PIONEER3". Unfortunately, I can't seem
> to find anything on this. Man, this is frustrating.

The E34 didn't use a bus configuration for the trunk CD player. It was
all analog. There may be an adapter for a simple analog setup for it
somewhere, but I doubt if you could control it with the radio controls.

Since the E34 uses a standard DIN type radio mounting - you may want to
look at www.crutchfield.com and see what they offer that could be used
in-dash, and I suspect they'll have adapter for plug and play to the
stock harness.

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VG - 17 Jun 2006 17:13 GMT

Thanks! Got a little trigger happy with the send button and hence the triple
posting. Let me look into the Dension system.

Thanks,

VG

> Triple posting?
>
[quoted text clipped - 23 lines]
>>
>> - VG

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