Did you also get the Bluetooth adapter? Not only can you receive and send cell phone calls, but if you have songs on your phone or subscribe to a service you can stream the songs to the X.

So let me get this straight...

I have an '01 X5 with the standard Business CD and no CD changer (but of course the wiring is there in the left rear cubby). I can just plug the GROM unit into the CD changer ports and instantly be able to plug in a flash drive to it and play music that way? How do you control things like playlist switching (or can you)? Also, I don't have a "mode" button like what's shown in the GROM video posted earlier in this thread. I assume you could just press the "CD" button, but then I would also assume that the in-dash CD player becomes inoperable.

No I didn't... my car came with factory handsfree and i was afraid two systems would interfere with each other...I normally don't store a lot of music on my iPhone anyways so it was not a big deal for me...


If you do not have a DSP than it's a direct connection. You can control up to 6 playlists with your car stereo. You CD will continue to work... for earlier model years you will need to use the same button you currently use to switch between audio sources, i can't remember what its called. do a search on youtube for "grom audio x5" you will be able to see a short demo as to how it works

I made six folders on my jump drive to correspond with the six buttons that would be used to control the six cd in the changer. The selection is the same as for the cd changer you will use the button on the MID to select the folder and the forward and back to go between the tracks. You can also use the steering wheel control to control the forward and backward and the volume.

The in dash CD player operates as before with the Grom installed, you just need to select it or insert a CD into it.

one thing i noticed about the unit is that if the music is playing and i answer a phone call the music does not stop playing like it does with a CD player...

UKran are you running there newest firmware. When you refer to the music stopping when a call comes in. Are you saying the music is still playing in the background on your call. Or is the music just not pausing and so if you was on a 10 minute call you missed like 2 or 3 songs. Finally I thought Groms random play crashes at 2000 songs.
I had my unit for over 2 years. I've killed 2 external harddrives. Did you buy there bluetooth adapter. I chose the aux input. I like having the 2 aux inputs in my bmw instead of 1. Even though I devoted my aux 2 to a bluetooth streaming module.

Not sure if i have the latest firmware - will have to check on that... no i don't have grom BT module i have one from the factory in the car. The music doesn't pause, so when i am done with a call, i've missed a couple of songs...will need to talk to Grom tech support about that...

I'm nott trying to promote it but if you have factory bluetooth and you can give up an aux input try the ilive bluetooth streaming adapter. I posted in the audio forum about it. I started using my music on my 16gb mem card on my phone. It works together with factory bluetooth. If a call comes in it pauses the music and factory bluetooth takes over. Hang up music comes back on. My only gripe the cheap module cannot control your music like next track or display your songs on the business radio or nav display. I'm still looking for a module that will and is under 30 bucks. I got groms ipod adapter but don't use it. Imight try and convert that to another aux input via the ipod to aux adapter they sell. I only bought ipod plug to stay up with the times. I was thinking about a spec dock though to make it look clean. I will say groms module has superior audio quality so I use the aux on that for bluetooth streaming.

I think having music stream via bluetooth is a great idea, however in my case i wanted to control my music using car stereo, and i don't keep my music on my phone as it's full of other junk, that's why i went a different route...:thumbup: