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      05-03-2011, 03:28 AM   #16
kinimod
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Drives: 911 GT3
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Bay Area, CA

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If you jailbreak your iPhone, you can buy "Music Controls Pro" on it from Cydia for about $5.

This background-running app basically translates industry-standardized USB iPod commands to other 3rd party apps, such as Spotify. So when the car computer is sending a standardized iPod command request to "change track" (which works with iPods or the "iPod" app on your iPhone), Spotify can actually understand it and change the track. You can jailbreak your old iPhone (3G, 3GS), install Controls Pro on it and always leave it in your car. Obviously there is no way to display Spotify playlists on iDrive as they are completely custom and incompatible with iPod playlists.

I think the sound quality via USB is better when compared to A2DC Bluetooth.

A side note: as BMW now allows developers to develop "BMW Apps" for iDrive, I suspect that a Spotify app for iDrive might come soon (playlists support!), either from Spotify company directly, or from some other developer, since Spotify API is publicly available. Pandora has been recently released as a BMW App: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-20058401-48.html

Still, the only problem is, both Spotify and Pandora sound awful on high volume (either Bluetooth or USB) if you have a premium stereo (Logic 7, DIRAC Individual, Harman Kardon...). The sound is OK only until you compare it to CDs or 256 AAC/320 MP3 from a USB stick.

Last edited by kinimod; 05-03-2011 at 03:44 AM..
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