With Mog, BMW adds on-demand music in the car
BMW's latest app integration gives occupants an easier way listen to virtually any artist or song they can think of the moment they think of it.
BMW announced plans to integrate on-demand streaming music in August, and this week the on-demand music service has finally been added to ConnectedDrive. But before you get too excited, the latest integration will only benefit Mog Primo subscribers.
Mog is an ad-supported streaming-music platform that one-ups Pandora by letting listeners dial up any song or artist they want to listen to online. For $4.99 per month, listeners can subscribe to the service and ditch the ads. If you want to access Mog's library of 13 million downloadable songs, you'll need to upgrade to Primo service for $9.99 and get the mobile app.
Unfortunately, the mobile app is also required to listen to Mog in a car. If you have the Mog app, BMW's ConnectedDrive integration will display artist, song, and channel information on the in-dash display, and let you control the app using the iDrive controller or steering-wheel controls. Subscribers who've downloaded songs using Mog will also be able to listen to stored music even if they don't have a data connection.
Mog's app is available for iPhone and Android, but BMW ConnectedDrive only supports iPhone at this time. ConnectedDrive will make it easier for subscribers to use Mog's application in the car by giving them a way to search for music without fumbling with their phone. But if that advantage isn't enough to entice you to part with $10 per month, you can stick with the Pandora app, which is free and will pick songs for you.
Correction: A previous version of this story indicated that Mog has been available for Mini Cooper vehicles for several months. However, that is not true. Although the integration has been demoed widely and beta-tested in the BMW 6-series coupe for several months, it became available to all BMW and Mini owners this week.