Deezer via Online Entertainment - Anyone used it?

[MarkP80]

Hi all,

I have an existing Premium Deezer account which I use at home for streaming music. I've been trying to set this up in my car (2016 X6) and have so far been having a right chew on. All the documentation says you can register an existing account, (both BMW and Deezer), rather than having to set up a new account, but it's not proving easy.
Has anyone else done this with success?
I have a one month Online Entertainment voucher, and I can go through the iDrive setup wizard, which gives an option to register with an existing account. It then says my account is already registered and kicks me out!
I've had a bit of correspondence with both BMW and Deezer, I haven't got to the end yet though. It seems as if I might have to cancel my subscription with Deezer and revert to a free account (with adverts) then resubscribe in the car to activate the service.
The difficulty is that I pay annually and have several months left to run, and it's not yet clear what happens to that if I cancel.
Anyway, after all that rambling, I guess the question is has anyone else been through this process, and what were your experiences? And if I do solve this, I'll update this thread.

(Note, this is specifically the Online Entertainment option using the car's own sim card, not the option to play Deezer through my own phone via bluetooth) I've posted here as this isn't X6 specific so thought others might be interested.
Cheers,
MarkP

[Beefcake-2001]

I had the same issue its a nightmare.
BMW didn't seem to be able to help me. In the end I ordered the BMW online entertainment voucher set up a brand new account with a different email address. Set it up in the car then you can use it on other devices.

All I was trying to do was renew my existing BMW Deezer account, when you do renew in the car you must wait for the existing contract to end and get a reminder in the car otherwise you will have major problems renewing.

Now it's all up and running I use it all the time.

[MarkP80]

It's not just me then!

I guess starting a new account is always an option, but I'd rather avoid it. I've had Deezer a while, so my account has lots of saved playlists, favourite albums etc etc, and I was really hoping to just carry that over to the car.

I'll see how far I get with Deezer's support team before I give in.

I see you say you use it all the time now. I'm not surprised, as when I use it through my phone via bluetooth, I find it great to be able to listen to all my favourite music so easily. Hence I'm keen to get the Online Entertainment working (so I don't keep hammering my mobile data!)

Thanks for the tip about renewing as well, that's useful to know.

(This is all before I even think about the implications of my Deezer account being Elite, for lossless music at home via Sonos)
Cheers,
MarkP

[Beefcake-2001]

The only sure fire way is to wait until your Deezer premium account expires, then wait a few days then buy the BMW online entertainment voucher and you should be fine.

[MarkG_M3CP]

I bought the Online Entertainment £160 voucher, activated it in the car and signed on with my existing Deezer details.

It automatically cancelled my old subscription but I was less than a month before the end so I don't know if they would have refunded any longer...

Sorry, only partially helpful!

[MarkP80]

[quote="MarkG_M50d"]
I bought the Online Entertainment £160 voucher, activated it in the car and signed on with my existing Deezer details.

It automatically cancelled my old subscription but I was less than a month before the end so I don't know if they would have refunded any longer...

Sorry, only partially helpful!
[/quote]
As you say, maybe it worked because you were near the end of your subscription?
I've had quite a bit of correspondence between Deezer and myself, and I should now have a way forward.
They told me that I could not register in the car while my subscription was active. So, they have cancelled my subscription for the time being, meaning it has actually changed to a free account. So, on the free account I still have all my saved favourites and playlists etc.
This should now allow me to register in the car with my "voucher" using my existing free account - which will then become an Elite account, and work in my house advert free again.
Once my one month trial voucher has expired, I have to contact Deezer, who will reactivate my suspended annual subscription, which still has 4 months or so remaining. I should then be able to re-register this from the car.
At present, I've had my subscription deactivated but won't be able to try to register in my car until the end of the week, but it should now work. I'll let you know.
To be honest, Deezer were pretty helpful, although it takes them about 48 hours to respond each time, and their responses are quite short, so it took a few emails before I got to the bottom of it. I'm looking forward to getting it working, as I think it will be pretty good.

Cheers,
MarkP

[MarkP80]

OK, so I had another go at registering at the weekend - and this time it all worked a treat!
I entered my existing account details, and the registration process worked fine, so I now have Deezer activated in the car.
It works really well, all my playlists and favourite music is there, and it has been glitch-free so far. Very pleased, so I'll probably continue to use this service after the first month.

Cheers,
MarkP

[chamment]

Did you manage to get your deezer elite working with the BMW? I emailed deezer yesterday and was told that I couldn't have deezer elite as the car only works with premium + subscription.

[MarkP80]

[quote="chamment"]
Did you manage to get your deezer elite working with the BMW? I emailed deezer yesterday and was told that I couldn't have deezer elite as the car only works with premium + subscription.
[/quote]
I had to suspend my Elite subscription which still had a few months to go, then activate the BMW Online Voucher, which gives access to a Premium subscription, as you point out.
That also means that the subscription I use at home is now Premium as well. Therefore I'm now streaming a compressed bitstream to my Sonos, rather than the lossless stream you get with Elite. However, the way I use my Sonos - Connect-Amps to ceiling speakers (decent quality B&W) - for background or party music, I have noticed no degradation in sound quality at all.
Taking that into consideration, plus being impressed with Deezer in the car, I don't think I would change back to Elite, especially when you consider it's twice the price of a Premium subscription.

Cheers,
MarkP