Educate me on the 2011 "Professional" Radio in an E90 M3 please

[GRM Scott]

Hey all, if planets align as expected I'm picking up a 2011 E90 M3 later this month, and it's a non-iDrive car (good thing in my opinion, tech systems are lovely when a car is new but 5 to 10 years on when the maps are way outta date and the interface feels sluggish and frustrating it's not worth the dashboard real estate).

Since I've got a loooong drive to get the car home, just want to make sure I'm prepped to pass the miles. I've got a quality vent mount for my 'droid to use as GPS etc, so that's covered, mostly I want to make sure I have decent music. The car has the USB port in the armrest, any weird tricks to that for use with a memory stick? I've got a 32GB stick that I formatted to FAT32 file system to work with a Mercedes, is there any weirdness with that interface? (Mandatory file structures etc?)

How's the factory bluetooth quality for hands-free calling on the non-iDrive cars? Any cool tips or tricks with the basic radio in general? I'd love to think it's all going to be twisty roads, but through Oklahoma I'm gonna have that sucker planted on cruise control so I'm not accidentally doing triple-digit speeds on arrow-straight roads with no visual stimulation outside the windshield.

Thanks for any tips/advice/knowledge on the factory radio! (Is it decent? Not the kind of guy who bothers putting big systems in cars, but I do like a solid stereo.)

[mharris2007]

Blackberry music gateway is what I use in mine for streaming Bluetooth audio. Only downside is the steering wheel controls don't advance the tracks; you have to do that on the phone. The blue tooth calling that comes standard in my car (I think premium package?) works very well. I don't know anything about what format needs to be there for a memory stick or what have you. I hate the idrive and hate the double hump dash. I'm more than thrilled not having it.

[BimmerRookie]

Search and buy a Tune2Air. You'll get Bluetooth music streaming with steering wheel controls. Also look up the stereo EQ settings thread to make sure you're calibrated to what most of us have on here.

[New2Roundel]

Originally Posted by GRM Scott

Hey all, if planets align as expected I'm picking up a 2011 E90 M3 later this month, and it's a non-iDrive car (good thing in my opinion, tech systems are lovely when a car is new but 5 to 10 years on when the maps are way outta date and the interface feels sluggish and frustrating it's not worth the dashboard real estate).

Since I've got a loooong drive to get the car home, just want to make sure I'm prepped to pass the miles. I've got a quality vent mount for my 'droid to use as GPS etc, so that's covered, mostly I want to make sure I have decent music. The car has the USB port in the armrest, any weird tricks to that for use with a memory stick? I've got a 32GB stick that I formatted to FAT32 file system to work with a Mercedes, is there any weirdness with that interface? (Mandatory file structures etc?)

How's the factory bluetooth quality for hands-free calling on the non-iDrive cars? Any cool tips or tricks with the basic radio in general? I'd love to think it's all going to be twisty roads, but through Oklahoma I'm gonna have that sucker planted on cruise control so I'm not accidentally doing triple-digit speeds on arrow-straight roads with no visual stimulation outside the windshield.

Thanks for any tips/advice/knowledge on the factory radio! (Is it decent? Not the kind of guy who bothers putting big systems in cars, but I do like a solid stereo.)

I have an e92 of similar spec and feel the same way about older nav systems in cars. Not to mention, it's just another pricey piece that can break over time. I've never used the USB port for music, so I can't speak to that. As far as sound quality, it really depends on what you're used to. I've had a series cars with basic stereos, none of which were all that great. So to me, what we get in the basic M3 sounds great. If you're used to higher end, optional systems in other cars, you might not be that impressed with the stock setup.

The stock bluetooth is very easy to setup for phone duty. However, it will not stream audio, which is only available with iDrive, hence some of the suggestions above. I personally don't care enough to tack on additional hardware, so I get by just fine with playing streamed music (like Pandora) through the headphone jack of the phone into the car's jack.

[GRM Scott]

Thanks moderator for the move, recently joined and wasn't aware of this subthread.

Yeah, I'd like to keep the interface as stock as possible, so if the memory stick works well enough I'll be in great shape. I had the stick on a 2009 Mercedes and (once I figured out the FAT32 formatting thing versus NTFS) it was a great setup. I'd actually rather not bother with my phone as a media source, I have a LOT of music and it's much easier/cheaper to keep it on a 32GB stick than use up that much of a phone's storage. Thanks all for input and advice.

[mharris2007]

Originally Posted by BimmerRookie

Search and buy a Tune2Air. You'll get Bluetooth music streaming with steering wheel controls. Also look up the stereo EQ settings thread to make sure you're calibrated to what most of us have on here.

Can you skip songs on Spotify/Pandora/etc from the steering wheel? My car is non I drive.

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by mharris2007

Can you skip songs on Spotify/Pandora/etc from the steering wheel? My car is non I drive.

Yep, at least Spotify works fine to controll up/down list from the wheel mate.

[WingZeroX5]

Map updates are about 50 bucks, plus cost of a few 32gb flash drives. I update once every 2 years

I don't find the interface slow either, it does what I need it to do. I use nav sparingly, mostly my phone since it's much quicker to find and easier to use. For long road trips, I use the nav to keep the console area clear of unnecessary wires.