Download Music To Audi Mmi
KB ID 0001116 Dtd 25/06/17
Problem
A few weeks ago I changed cars, I was pleased to see that the entertainment system in my new car could play music from SD card. These are cheap and can hold a Lot of songs, so rather than have my iPod in the car, I could simply drop music onto an SD card.
Which I did but, annoyingly non of the ‘album artwork’ was displayed, even though the music played fine. I did some Googling and read a few Audi forums, and finally got it to work.
Solution
Theres a lot of conflicting information in forums on how to get this to work, so I will just tell you how I got mine working.
- Car: Audi A6 (2013)
- MMI Version 3
SD Card Size: Has to be 32GB or less – This is because it has to be formatted at FAT32, it’s a limitation of the storage system not Audi or the SD Cards (Yes you can have more than 32GB FAT32 drives, thats a different argument).
To Check;
Mac OSX (right click > Get Info).
Windows (Right Click > Properties).
Why is there a problem displaying Album art?
Before you can proceed you must read & agree to the latest, as well as the and, which you can access by clicking on these links.
Well, (and I’m making the assumption your mp3 files actually have album art embedded within them, (thats in the mp3 file, not in a different folder, if not get that sorted first!) The Audi will only display art if;
Audi Bluetooth A2DP adapter for music streaming. Connect to AMI (Audi media interface port) in your Audi and enjoy your favorite music. For Audi A4,A5,A6,Q5,Q7. Jun 26, 2009 I own a 2010 Audi A6. Just downloaded music to an SD chip from iTunes on my computer. I then downloaded the music from the SD chip to the Jukebox on the MMI. When a music track ends and transitions to the next track, there is a slight skip in the transition.
- It’s less than 500×500 pixels in size.
- It’s less than 254kb in file size (the image not the track!)
For example, below Im using the excellent, (and free) Mp3tag to look at this songs details, see the album art is 2000×2000 pixels, and is 409Kb in size. Try to play this in the car and the music will play but you will just see a generic ‘musical note’ instead of the album art.
Well that’s OK, but manually resizing all your album art could take along time, (I’ve got a large music collection). To do that requires another brilliant free piece of software called Bliss, (download here). I’m using Mac but theres a Windows version as well.
Windows Alternative
If I’m in Windows I use Sense Mp3 Art Sizer;
Back to my mac.
Install and run the software, at this point it appears nothing has happened but you should see a large blue ‘bl’ at the top of the screen. Right click that, and it will open. Go to Settings.
Change the music location, so that it points to your SD card.
Download Music To Audi Mmi Drive
Under the cover art section click ‘more’.
You now have the option to set the maximum size, set it to 500×500, and then set the maximum size to 256KB. Click Apply Rules an it should rattle its way though all the songs on the SD card. Depending on how many you have, this can take a while.
Download Music Audiomark
Notice once complete, when looking at the album art it has been resized, and should now show correctly in the car.
Additional Steps For Mac OSX Users.
Mac OSX has a habit of dropping some folders on the drive, and their names start with a full stop (or period if you’re over the pond). Normally that is not a problem, but your Audi will not like this, (typically is scrolls through all the songs and does nothing).
My Mac is set to show hidden folders, so you probably wont even be able to see them, to remove them open a terminal window. Execute the following two commands;
What this does, is shows you the names of the mounted volumes, mines got a simple enough name because I called it PETES-AUDI, yours might be something else, take note of what it’s being called.
Then, change into the volume name for the card, change to match the name of yours, then issue three rm commands as shown below(rm is simply a remove command).
Download Music To Audi Mmi Online
Then you can eject the SD card, and play it in the car.
Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links
Original Article Written 17/12/15
First available on the Audi Q5 the 3G MMI system has a 40GB hard drive. Approximately 20GB of that hard drive is used to store navigation data and improved categorization and points of interest; 5GB-7GB is used for miscellaneous functions such as storing contacts from Bluetooth. Now that leaves us with about 12GB-15GB of this remaining extra storage on the hard drive of the 3G MMI equipt Audis that you can actually store your personal music on. How many times have you wanted to hear a song that was on your iPod or on your memory stick sitting on your desk at home or in your other car? Audi has come up with a way to transfer music files from your portible music device, MP3, CD, memory stick (flash drive) or SD card onto the hard drive of your Audi. Initially we were informed that you could import music from your iPod or any CD, however, from personal experience and further research I have found out that while it is not quite this simple it is still a fairly easy process. Because Apple has their music secured you cannot take the music directly off your iPod, and for the same reason you can not take music directly from an original store bought CD. You can take music from a “burned” CD but be aware that the 3G MMI Jukebox is somewhat particular about what brand of CD you use, as well, the format must be MP3. Now when it comes to an iPod or similar device, you have to tranfer the music onto an SD card first and import it or you can use a memory stick, however if this is the case you will need a special designated Audi cable to transfer the music (Cable part #4F0 051 510 G). The jukebox system works very well and is very convenient. If I were to make a suggestion it would be to put the music you plan to import onto an SD or flashcard because the import is much quicker then from a burned MP3 CD. The process to import the music is very simple but make sure on the 3G MMI that you are using a card 4GB or less. If you find you are having troubles the most likley problem is simply the format in which you are trying to transfer