iPods in Aston Martins

[Shmee]

I'm trying to work out what kind of iPod I need to use in my car.

I currently own a 16GB 4th Gen iPod Nano that I used to leave in the car however with the MY09 V8 Vantage it doesn't get powered by the car and therefore runs out every day or two - an absolute nightmare when the same iPod works absolutely fine in BMWs and Audis I've tried it in

My girlfriends 8GB 3rd Gen iPod Nano works fine and chargers fine; so what I'm trying to ascertain is what is the latest version iPod that charges off the car that I can keep in it permanently without having to worry? Anybody have any they can confirm?

Thanks

[Murph7355]

Apple dropped charging via the firewire pins around the 3rd/4th gen change. You used to be able to charge them via firewire or USB, then it was just USB. A lot of accessory manufacturers didn't change their products to suit (before anyone moans about Apple, AIUI "iPod approved" accessory makers were given a lot of advance warning ).

You can get adapters to make your old kit work, e.g.:

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/TS696LL/A

Others will no doubt be available too, but with the price of iPods these days, I'd probably just get a new iPod.

[mikey k]

My 60GB 5th Gen (video) works fine in my MY09 car.

[Shmee]

Murph7355 said:

Apple dropped charging via the firewire pins around the 3rd/4th gen change. You used to be able to charge them via firewire or USB, then it was just USB. A lot of accessory manufacturers didn't change their products to suit (before anyone moans about Apple, AIUI "iPod approved" accessory makers were given a lot of advance warning ).

You can get adapters to make your old kit work, e.g.:

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/TS696LL/A

Others will no doubt be available too, but with the price of iPods these days, I'd probably just get a new iPod.

When you say old kit, is the bit of old kit you refer to the MY09 V8V? I'd be more than happy to walk into an Apple store and buy a new iPod but I think I've understood that none will work and I need to buy that adaptor either way?

Thanks

[g55dxb]

The iPod retrofit kit from AML for older V8V's does provide power for newer iPod's and iPhones.

[Shmee]

g55dxb said:

The iPod retrofit kit from AML for older V8V's does provide power for newer iPod's and iPhones.

I have a newer V8V that has the kit by standard; so now I'm really confused haha.

[Adam2S]

Just buy a USB pendrive - far easier and cheaper and then you get to keep the I-spod for whatever purpose you bought it for originally and dont have to leave it in the car.

I have a SuperMicro PICO-C USB pendrive. Super small and gorgeous construction quality, looks really at home fitted to an Aston!

http://www.supertalent.com/products/stt_usb_detail...

£25 gets you a 16Gb stick which should be enough for most peoples music collection...

[Shmee]

Adam2S said:

Just buy a USB pendrive - far easier and cheaper and then you get to keep the I-spod for whatever purpose you bought it for originally and dont have to leave it in the car.

I have a SuperMicro PICO-C USB pendrive. Super small and gorgeous construction quality, looks really at home fitted to an Aston!

http://www.supertalent.com/products/stt_usb_detail...

£25 gets you a 16Gb stick which should be enough for most peoples music collection...

That situation doesn't work for everyone; I update the music on my iPod maybe every other day and therefore not having a device that syncs with iTunes incredibly easily is an issue. Unless I'm missing something and there is an easy way to do this...?

As it happens the original purchase reason for my current iPod was for my car (Just made a list and this is the 14th iPod [or iPod device inc iPhone/iPod Touch] I've owned to date - scary)

ETA: Nope, it's the 15th! Wow Apple do well out of me!

Edited by Shmee on Monday 10th January 15:20

[Adam2S]

If you are only using the Ipod for the car then Im not sure why removing a USB stick and syncing it with your PC is really any harder than syncing an Ipod - plus you dont have to have to have I-Tunes installed on your PC either!

An Ipod is a very expensive piece of storage media if all you ever do with it is plug it into the car. Plus the USB stick has no need for a battery so it never needs charging. Fair enough if you already have an Ipod and use it for other things but given you intend to buy one just for this purpose I think the USB stick would be better value. Go for a 32Gb or 64Gb for little more cash (and still less than an Ipod) and you can pretty much guaranteed put your entire music collection ever on it and then you dont need to resync every other day!

[Shmee]

Adam2S said:

If you are only using the Ipod for the car then Im not sure why removing a USB stick and syncing it with your PC is really any harder than syncing an Ipod - plus you dont have to have to have I-Tunes installed on your PC either!

An Ipod is a very expensive piece of storage media if all you ever do with it is plug it into the car. Plus the USB stick has no need for a battery so it never needs charging. Fair enough if you already have an Ipod and use it for other things but given you intend to buy one just for this purpose I think the USB stick would be better value. Go for a 32Gb or 64Gb for little more cash (and still less than an Ipod) and you can pretty much guaranteed put your entire music collection ever on it and then you dont need to resync every other day!

Right I haven't explained very well. I primarily use it for the car, but not exclusively so as you say the iPod is needed against just a USB i.e. I've just been on a skiing holiday where I used my iPod all day every day, I like having it in the car so I have it on me if I ever want it, I like using an iPod because by far the most simple solution from any company for the kind of person who obtains new songs daily, makes new playlists daily, and wants them on a portable storage device ready for use in car or on headphones any day too. For a regular iTunes user, it does some amazingly helpful thing; can handle huge libraries of music (and I mean huge), streams them to the 2 other rooms I listen to music in directly from my media server. Apple Genius is quite frankly one of the best computer inventions ever that I couldn't live without now, and the simplicity of the Apple Store is absolutely brilliant for finding music. All of this comes from someone who despises Steve Jobs with a passion too, loathes Apple as a company, and was even once persuaded to test out a Macbook Pro and returned it within a week and now persuades every single friend to avoid like the plague. I've also had 5 iPhones but now am BlackBerry through and through.

Anyway yes, at home I have a 32GB USB stick here (and 2 32GB SD cards too with usb adaptor) so I could just use them but I can't think of any clever way of getting them to handle my music that will permanently stay in iTunes and update daily.

So original question to anyone, with a MY09 V8V with iPod connection as standard, what is the newest version of the smaller (Nano) iPods that will charge while playing?

[Shmee]

Absolutely ages later I've picked up a Scosche Passport thingymabob and it does the job absolutely perfectly.

Thank you