We all know that car manufacturers are struggling to keep up with the rapid changes in mobile technology. Once upon a time, you could sell the same model for more than a decade and just keep the thing updated with minor facelifts. Today, a car sold with the wrong infotainment unit could look dated within a year. With that in mind, BMW probably thought it was necessary to have their own infotainment units synchronise directly with users’ Spotify accounts instead of using mirroring apps like Android Auto or Apple Carplay.
To be fair, you can still use those mirroring apps to play tunes through Spotify. In fact, BMW are working on wireless Android Auto integration by mid-2020.
What’s different here is that an in-car service called Connected Music will use the car’s own SIM card to keep your music streaming apps in sync. So far, only Spotify, Napster and Deezer accounts are supported. Tidal, Apple Music and Youtube Music are not supported.
So, if Android Auto and Apple Carplay work pretty well, why has BMW created Connected Music. There are a few reasons:
- some customers don’t want to risk having personal data accessed by the car’s system. The car itself is now connected to the internet and can have access to the phone’s messages and contacts. To prevent sensitive information from crossing that barrier and still have access to your favourite tunes, this system exists
- BMW’s Operating System 7 has voice commands as a major innovation. Syncronising music services directly with the Operating System will help make voice commands for music a lot more intuitive
Here’s the press release with more.
PRESS RELEASE
The BMW Group has created the perfect platform for seamlessly integrating customers’ music streaming services into their car: Connected Music. This new digital offering allows unrestricted in-car access to customers’ Spotify, Napster or Deezer streaming accounts, complete with their personal playlists and settings. Connection is via the car’s own SIM card rather than indirectly using a smartphone, meaning the services do not consume any of the customers’ personal data allowance.
The integration of the services has been optimised for Operating System 7 and tailored to customers’ requirements, with further improvements made to the previous connection. This comprehensive integration ensures using the streaming services in the car is self-explanatory and similarly straightforward as with a smartphone. One highlight feature here is the option to use the services via the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant and request a particular artist, song or album (“Hey BMW, play the track Happy”). Users can also ask for information on the song currently being played, request personal favourites (“Play my favourites”) or (de)select the shuffle function.
To use Connected Music in their BMW, all the customer has to do is log in with their personal premium account. Favourites and playlists from the linked account will then be synchronised automatically, providing direct access to individual playlists and settings. Once a song has been played, Connected Music saves it to the hard drive of the in-car audio system. Users can therefore still access their music if the connection is interrupted.
Connected Music is part of the Connected Package Professional since January 2020, which means it is integrated into vehicles for a period of three years ex-factory. There are no additional data or roaming charges to pay in 14 countries in Europe.
