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?
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!
Yea I think you can find one at “5 below” or “best buy”
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
i use one of these as my car doesn’t have Bluetooth. Works fn great. Has usb port and aux port on it. Plugs into 12v on car
My last one was a little more powerful, would transmit clearly to 3 or 4 cars around me, but i accidently snapped it
Used to set it to the local country station so that i never had to listen to country music when stopped at a light.
But i digress, bought mine at best buy for about 50 cdn
You can use 3.5mm jack to bluetooth adapter.
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…
Low power. Only picks up your cars receiver, and potentially neighboring vehicles temporarily if they are receiving at the same frequency.
These work well. I have to power mine through the cigarette lighter, but newer cars should have USB power as standard.
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)
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.
“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
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 an MP3 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.
EDIT:
WTF. I triple posted. My bad. I deleted the two others, also corrected some minor typos and mistakes.
Can you just get an aux cable and plug that in?
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).
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.
I don’t think it will work in USB. Afaik on PC it can only work with iTunes, so good luck installing that in your car. If it’s “that” old though, it should have the one interface that is so perfect it has barely changed in one century.
(The audio jack…)
Aux to aux in your car stereo not available?
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
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Further to the other answers; I have one of these for using my iPod in the car. It has the added bonus of taking line-level volume, so you set the volume from the head unit, not the iPod. And it can charge while you’re using it.
I think it’ll charge from the head unit’s USB socket without trying to connect, because the USB plug is just for charging.
