Nav VI Music/MP3 won't play

I cannot get my Nav VI to play MP3 files,

1. The Nav VI is connected to my helmet (it says "GPS Connected.")

2. But then the Nav VI says to put the files in the "MP3" directory (see image below). I've done that--but still doesn't work.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Some discussion of the Nav VI and MP3 files here:

https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthrea...s-and-Tricks&p=1085440&viewfull=1#post1085440

Called Garmin a week ago--they said they are testing a new software update for the Nav VI to resolve a batch of issues with the iPhone and IOS 11. They added me to the mailing list so that I'll know when the software is available in the garmin express app so that I can update the navigator.

One thought would be to try a different encoding for an MP3 file to see if the Nav VI will recognize it. There are different bit rates available when you encode music to MP3 compression format. What software are you using to produce your MP3 files?

Are you sure that your files are in the MP3 format? I transferred music from my computer to the Nav VI and they didn't show up either. Turns out they were WMV (Windows Media Player format) files and they are not compatible. I had to convert them to MP3 files and then transfer them. Also, if you are trying to install them on an sd memory card, the card has to be formatted to FAT 32.

chillerman said:

Are you sure that your files are in the MP3 format? I transferred music from my computer to the Nav VI and they didn't show up either. Turns out they were WMV (Windows Media Player format) files and they are not compatible. I had to convert them to MP3 files and then transfer them. Also, if you are trying to install them on an sd memory card, the card has to be formatted to FAT 32.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum!
Always good to have Members with experience along these lines
Gary

chillerman said:

Are you sure that your files are in the MP3 format? I transferred music from my computer to the Nav VI and they didn't show up either. Turns out they were WMV (Windows Media Player format) files and they are not compatible. I had to convert them to MP3 files and then transfer them. Also, if you are trying to install them on an sd memory card, the card has to be formatted to FAT 32.

Click to expand...

What conversion software do you recommend?

I give up--Quitting trying to get MP3 to work on Nav VI

Thanks for the input, but nothing worked. No one has any solutions, it appears (but I appreciate the feedback!) I checked out the thread recommended by 70774 <https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread...=1#post1085440> but no one had any apparent solutions.

1. I tried putting my mp3 files the following directories, but nothing worked,

root
root/mp3
root/garmin/mp3

2. I also downloaded the current version of the maps (excruciatingly slow process, a couple hours!) so I'm up to date with the software.

So, I think I will just give up. The main thing that I like about the Nav VI is that it functions as another readout for engine and bike functions, and the Wunderwheel zoom, so I've still got those, and the GPS works fine (but then they all do.) I will just load music on my phone and get it that way. Maybe Garmin will put out an update that solves these issues . . .

The documentation of the Nav VI is surprisingly devoid of meaningful help with respect to MP3. As a final thing I might try to solicit some help from Garmin or BMW.

Has anyone been able to stream music from your iPhone via the Nav VI unit?

I've tried, but have not been able to stream music from the phone (have tried iPhone 6, 7). I have had an open support case with Garmin for months. I've checked back but they say they do not have a bug fix as of yet. Maybe will be released when the Nav VII is ready.

61996 said:

What conversion software do you recommend?

Click to expand...

I used iTunes. There is a setting in preferences that you can tell it to change files to an MP3 when importing.

Streaming Music from iPhone to Garmin Nav VI Now Working

For anyone using the Nav VI for music streamed over bluetooth from an Apple iPhone, I'm happy to report that Garmin's new firmware update for the Nav VI, released a few days ago, appears to have fixed the bug preventing music streaming from working with my iPhone 7. Play / Pause / Next Track, etc all are now working, and it is even pulling the album artwork from the phone and displaying on the Nav VI. The helmet bluetooth headset I am using is the Schubert SC1 (Sena 20S based). While I wish this had worked from the beginning (several months since initial release of the Nav VI), kudos to Garmin for getting it right, finally. They also pro-actively alerted me to the new firmware via an e-mail referencing my support case from several months back.

Don’t waste your time converting to MP3 just stream from your phone.

Richard Battle is the man. How to get music to stream from your iPhone with the NAV VI.

Fixed

rangerreece said:

Richard Battle is the man. How to get music to stream from your iPhone with the NAV VI.

Click to expand...

I got it fixed--works fine now.

MP3 Problems Solved

Thanks to everyone for offering suggestions, but the problem is now FIXED, though I am not sure exactly "why", (because I made two changes at once and therefore did not isolate the problem.) Nevertheless, here is what I did,

1. First, I downloaded today's Nav VI update via Garmin Express, which I think came out yesterday and supposedly resolved a number of issues (mostly for Iphone users, I think, but who knows.) This was a software update that only takes two minutes, not a map update. Maybe this was the magic bullet, but everyone should do this, regardless.

2. Garmin Support said yesterday via email that the MP3 music files loaded onto the Micro SD card must be in the the MicroSD Card's <Garmin/MP3 directory>. The capital "G" was specifically noted to be required. (I don't know about the capitals in "MP3", but that is what I did.) Maybe this was the magic bullet?

Anyhow, now everthing works fine. I deleted all the MP3 files from the internal memory and am now just using the MicroSD card. Directory structure is intact (e.g., the MP3 files that I loaded are in various directories for artists and albums.) I can readily search on the Nav VI screen for either an artist, or an album.

3. I never did reformat the card to "FAT32", as some recommended--I think it came that way, however. That was next on my list to do, until things started working.

4. NOT RELATED: I incidentally, while on Garmin Express, also figured out that I could download the maps from the device for use in Basemap on my PC, so I did this, which will make Basemap less cumbersome (Basemap has only course map data by itself.) I still haven't figured out Basemap at all, but I will try again, now.

All you ever want to know about Basecamp

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/41134

Here are some great videos explaining Basecamp. The program is not very user friendly but after viewing these tutorials I really use the program a lot.