cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/30700991
I still have an old ipod. So old it has no wireless ability. I want to use it in my car which doesn’t have a cassette or cd player. It plugs into the car’s usb port but the car radio “doesn’t see it”. Any tips on how to get it to work?
We used FM transmitters for those guys back in the day. Plug it in the headphone port and tune the stations.
They aren’t great especially if you live in a big city, but out of all the options this would get you the truest classic iPod experience.
It was always fun to be driving down the highway and suddenly picking up somebody’s stream, then annoying when you realize you’re in traffic with them and now they’ve hijacked the station you were listening to
Lol. Some of these devices gives you have a choice of different frequencies. Mine had 4.
Sorry I don’t understand your response. This old ipod is loaded with music down loaded from itunes. If I plug head phones into it (it has not bluetooth) it works fine. If I plug it into my stereo receiver in the house it works great. But if I plug it into the usb port in my car - it is not recognized. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
There are low powered FM transmitters you can get for your car
FM transmitter plugs into cigarette lighter for power
iPod connects to FM transmitter via AUX cord
You tune your cars radio to whatever frequency the transmitter is set to, and it plays whatever your iPod is playing
Had this for old portable CD players (the kind that would skip when the car hit a bump). They don’t work all that well. Even if you find a frequency not in use, it gets interrupted from time to time as you’re driving around.
But the alternative is nothing.
[Comment removed because a better, non-tracking link was provided]
Hey, I’ve had a car as new as 2017 support an ipod through usb!
And as old as 2010 for me
Clean(er - still Amazon) link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004NEUK86
There are little devices that take the “headphone” cable and transmit a tiny FM radio station just for your car.
Other people replied, but to rephrase: the USB will not work with a car, and there will never be an adapter that will allow it to.
Instead you need a way to send the audio from the ipod headphone jack into your car stereo. Something like this.
I think I can clear up your confusion.
By headphone jack there’s a transmission of simple analog audio.
By USB however there are endless possibilities.
Ipods (and other apple devices) usually spoke a different protocol than simply providing file access as your car is likely expecting. On a pc you needed to install the application for that, too.
That’s likely the reason for not working.
In this case it’s easier to just stick in a mass storage usb stick with music files on it.
Yeah, apple always hated the “PC(or any other device) is a thing with folders and files inside” paradigm - it was always “I got this app that plays music, I don’t know how”. So it would be crazy if they would just make any device show the contents of the drive.
Everyone in these comments are idiots? Or bots? Usb to aux outputs, Bluetooth to aux outputs guys it’s a freaking iPod the one thing it has is aux output. The problem is getting it into the radio.
Op, does your radio have aux in? That’s the easiest but it’s so simple I think you would have done it already.
If you don’t sometimes you can buy an adapter that plugs into the back of your radio, heck eBay might net you an actual iPod 30 pin cable specific to your radio.
If your radio has Bluetooth, you can get an aux Bluetooth transmitter not reciver like people linked here, to transmit from the headphone jack to your radio.
Last resort is a fm transmitter with either aux or a 30 pin.
I was selling smartphones and smartphone accessories when they were just emerging, ending PDA era, and we had FM transmitters - it is powered from car, you plug in your device through aux, and the transmitter sends out the sound in FM, so you can catch it on your effin radio (the frequency were either fixed or selectable). This was the future!
There are 3.5mm (headphones) to Bluetooth adapters. If you car are Bluetooth u can use this… fairly inexpensive. And if you have FM radio in your car there is 3.5mm to FM adapters…basically you have a mini radio station with short range but enough for your car to pick it up
An iPod nano can’t play over USB, you need to use the aux port
This is unfortunately the only real answer. “Install an aux port in your car, or get a different player that will play via USB” isn’t a good answer to hear, but it’s the correct one. Maybe use one of those FM transmitters instead. Reception will entirely depend on where you are, (and the FCC severely limits how powerful a non-licensed radio broadcast can be,) but at least it would get music to your car. Or if your car has Bluetooth, you can get one that takes the audio in via aux and outputs to Bluetooth.
But if you don’t have an aux port, I’m guessing you don’t have Bluetooth either.
It is likely the car USB port is looking through directories for MP3 files, and thats not now those iPods present themselves when hooked up via USB. You might be able to find an audio-to-bluetooth adapter, but it is likely you will not be able to control the device through the car’s interface, so you would have to press play manually.
(Side note: older cars with USB might have a very low-level relationship with the USB sticks, where they read files in the order they were written to the device, without regard to what folders you put them in. There are utilities that can reorder the files’ physical position on the stick so that albums play in order)
I use a Bluetooth to aux for my phone, which is only slightly annoying at times, but I blame the apps. I can play, play, pause, skip forward with my Bluetooth receiver, and OP will miss out on that, except they can PROBABLY use the dial blindly for just that.
There are also bluetooth adapters that plug directly into those older iPods’ accessory port (the slot on the bottom) instead of the headphone jack.
The main benefit of the one I used was being compact, with no wires. The main drawback was having to remove the adapter to charge the iPod. I guess a model with a USB charging cable might exist.
I’ve had one of those (battery died, unfortunately) and if you’d look at its files, you’d notice that they are organized in a different structure than what a USB player might expect.
iPod_Control\Music’s sudirectories might contain some songs, but the filenames are hashes (corresponding to the entry in the iPod db). The metadata and the contents are perfectly fine, and you can play the file yourself via a different player (you can probably test it in your computer).I suggest you just connect the iPod through the 3.5mm output audio jack or find a 3.5mm audio output to Bluetooth transmitter. adapter.
You can use 3.5mm jack to bluetooth adapter.
These work well. I have to power mine through the cigarette lighter, but newer cars should have USB power as standard.
Or even 3.5mm to FM adapter like this https://avinusa.com/fm-transmitter-mini-aux-adapter-with-built-in-3-5mm-jack.html
That’s really annoying for everyone else though.
Yeah If you use the same frequency as an existing station.
They pack them in as tight as they can, so doing that fucks up two stations instead…
Okay, yes, this is older technology & cars don’t have infinite, universal backwards compatibility. Cars have Bluetooth & they think that just fixes everything…well…not quite.
Maybe there are other fixes & other workarounds, but you need to employ old(er) technology solutions to fix this old(er) technology problem. You need a (QUALITY) FM transmitter that will plug into your aux, blast the signal as an FM radio station, and you tune your radio to that station & listen. Notice I said QUALITY…most of them are kinda crap & you have to deal with static. I have no specific brand, model suggestions. Good luck.
A better but more expensive solution: upgrade your car’s head unit. Stock head units are shit, anyway. 🙂 Get yourself a nice head unit with 3.5mm aux connection & aux in that iPod, if your budget allows. THEN, you’ll have the best sound quality and also Bluetooth connection, etc.
I wish you well, music makes the driving experience, I hope you get EVERYTHING you need. 🙏
It’s strange that most radio head units you can buy look like they were designed by high school students in 2010 with an infinite RGB and plastichrome budget.
Can you just get an aux cable and plug that in?
“probably won’t remember”?
Man. Fuck this kid. I’m not that old…
Just started using my 2006 SanDisk equivelant of this, I feel attacked lol
Aux to aux in your car stereo not available?
Seperate from the FM transmitters that other people have mentioned, you can install an FM modulator into your car. This is a box that goes behind your stereo, feeds power off the stereo power supply, and connects directly to the antenna wire to supply the frequency modulated sound signal directly to the antenna without traveling through the air. Similar to an FM transmitter, it has a headphone wire that plugs into the headphone outlet of your ipod for the audio signal. It can bypass the interference problem that FM transmitters run into, but the one I installed back in the day actually picked up engine revving noise from my alternator, so maybe it needed better wire shielding. Obviously this requires taking out your stereo and doing some wiring work so you need some tinkering skills or have it installed by a pro.
The reason the USB plug on your ipod doesn’t work is that earlier audio devices like the original ipod didn’t have a way to transmit audio digitally over USB, it was only used for charging and file transfer.
The USB port in your car radio might only support a specific file format for the drive (like EXT, FAT32, NTSF) that the iPod doesn’t use (IIRC, the iPod used Fat32 or Fat16?)
Or it doesn’t see directories and would work with a plain USB stick loaded with .MP3s loosely added to it. You could get a iPod to do this, but it wouldn’t work as an iPod anymore; it would be an external hard drive.
Edit: NVM I just realized it’s a nano. You can’t use the USB to play anything from a nano.
Does the radio have a 3.5mm AUX jack? If so, just use that.
No AUX to plug into - only USB
Then I think you’ll have much better luck figuring out a way to get a jack-to-USB adapter to work with your car’s radio
Aux to FM signal adapter, powered by the USB port.
Know that this may not be the safest solution, as you won’t have accessible track controls directly from the head unit, so you’ll have to be distracted if you want to pause or change tracks.
You are better off with a flash drive.
There are AUX cables that have a transmit and recive switch. You can use this to transmit the output of your iPod through AUX to a built in bluetooth receiver in your car or other device.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/UGREEN-Bluetooth-Transmitter-Headphone-Connection/dp/B0D12MFCBG
Just make sure what you choose has the transmitter function as most cheaper ones only have the receiver function (for use in a car stereo for example).
Are you sure your car doesn’t have an aux in? Most cast do. Otherwise, maybe a USB to aux converter might work but I doubt it. So I’d go with a Bluetooth or FM transmitter like others adviced. If your car has Bluetooth, I’d go for that one as FM can have interference. Or just play music from your phone. No iTunes hassle and more storage.
Amazingly my 2024 german made car does not have an AUX
Why is it so hard for car makers to equip every car with basic needs like enough cup holders, USB and enough power plugs, Bluetooth, AND A FREAKING AUX PLUG *major facepalm
Edit: my BMW had one under the arm rest by the way. It’s also possible to have one in the glove box compartment.
I almost dissembled the center console looking for one. Also no luck in the glove box
Have you tried selling it and buying an older model with a tape deck, so you can insert a fake tape with a cord and aux?
LOL. No not really. Not getting rid of this just to use my old, old ipod
Priorities man, priorities
