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Music Search

The "Music search" sub-menu is provided in the music collection for the purpose of managing a large quantity of music files.

The music search takes place in accordance with a special filtering process. The search can be started at any menu item in the music search. For example, if the menu item "Genre" is selected as the starting point, all albums of all artists together with all the tracks in this music direction will be made available for selection.

In the next step, only the artist is selected and all his/her albums are displayed.

The search is now filtered further with each step until at the end, only the required entry remains.

The information for the music search is stored in the form of a metafile, similar to the ID3 tags of an MP3 file.

An example of how these metafile or meta information could appear is shown below:

MUSIC SEARCH REFERENCE CHART

Music search Search for: Example
1 Genre Rock
2 Artist Queen
3 Album Greatest Hits II
4 Track A Kind Of Magic
Fig 1: Music Collection Menu With Stored Album Selected
G06895903Courtesy of BMW OF NORTH AMERICA, INC.
Fig 2: "Genre" Selected In Music Search Sub Menu
G06895904Courtesy of BMW OF NORTH AMERICA, INC.

Data management is achieved with the aid of a music track database.

The music track database information is stored on the hard disk of the CIC for the purpose of managing the music file's metadata. A 4 GB partition is allocated to the music search function.

The CIC is equipped with special software provided by Gracenote® for the purpose of identifying the complete albums of ripped Digital Audio CDs. It provides additional information about the music track on the respective Digital Audio CD converted to WMA files.

This music track database (Gracenote®) uses TOC (Table of Content) as the identification pattern. This means, complete albums on Digital Audio CDs are identified based on the number of tracks and the track length.

The corresponding data (track, artist, etc.) is then accordingly assigned to the music files in the music search database.

On conclusion of the conversion procedure to WMA files, the new metadata is automatically added to the directory structure in the music search. It is not possible to rename or edit this metadata after it is in the hard disk.

NOTE: Albums with newly released metadata at the time of vehicle delivery will no longer be identified. The music track database would require a permanent link with the server in order to keep this data up to date and this is not possible.

Unrecognized metadata of Digital Audio CDs is stored in the music collection as "Audio-CD 1", "Audio- CD 2", etc., together with the CD icon.

The metadata for the music track database from copied CD/DVD-ROMs or USB sticks is adopted identically in the music search function. This metadata does not stem from the music track database but rather from the user/customer himself.

The metadata, copied from a USB stick or CD/DVD ROM, cannot be renamed in the CIC.

In order to correct the faulty metadata on a track or file, the file must first be deleted from the hard disk in the CIC.

The user can then rename or add to these metadata files corresponding to the music track database structure (genre, artist, album and track) by using software on a personal computer.

When the file is imported back into the CIC hard disk, the correct metafiles will be displayed. This procedure also ensures that the music search will also find the copied music data with the music track, artist, etc.

Updating unknown music tracks is only possible with WMA files from ripped Digital Audio CD. If the user/customer does not follow this procedure, in time the music search will become unusable.

A "current" version of the music track database is stored in the vehicle on delivery. The information about music CDs (Digital Audio CDs) released after the vehicle delivery will not be found in the vehicle's music track database.

NOTE: If the metadata is not found because the Gracenote database in the CIC is outdated, the tracks will not be recognized.