Is this possible?

 

Well...
Spinning drive (classics use a 1.8 inch spinning drive)....bouncy car...and most classics are well past their prime...hit a pothole while on a read...it will make an unreadable sector...drive trashed pretty fast...
I wouldn't even if you could..see drives are used in most all in motion items for a reason...

 

Please - gimme a break. I have been using them for 8 years in my cars without any issues except batteries wearing out. It's not like it's an expensive item and if the hd fails you can always get another one.

And I don't think SSD's have replaced all spinning media in portable units quite yet.

Did I mention I have a very large music library and 169gb is needed?

 

The closest I could find is a BMW one for an iPod Touch.
http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/Site...pod/ES1877217/

Someone said they found an adapter cable in Romania, or something.

Here's a guy doing it in a BMW with a dummy iPhone.
http://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=967733

 

Interesting. Wonder why you might need any cable though, or a dummy iphone. Doesn't it have the 30 pin connector on it?

 

ItApple stopped making them...
The drives are nolonger manufactured....
So if you love it...buy another while you can still find it!!
Not giving you crap for using old tech...but tiny spinning drives fail lots...
When you hear them just click...its over...know folks that have been through crazy stuff to bring it back...removing the drive. Mounting it In a PC, running spinrite©, and then reassembling it...
For most...streaming has taken over...
But just know the "classic" is now A zombie...a dead end...prepare for the future....
Simplest way might be an adaptor plug using the audio plug....
If you want wireless (or don't have a plug.. Not sure if 3rd gen has them) you can buy phono plug to Bluetooth adaptors...about $20...

 

I've been waiting for a cheap 256gb CF card. You can pop one of those in with an adapter.

There seem to be plenty of ZIF SSDs to plug in.

That's the great thing about the old ones, you can hack them and fix them. Imagine that, not being tethered to Apple! It's so wonderful.

You can even get them to run different operating systems, play flac files.

 

But my current iPod is about 1 1/2 years old. Last one went for 6 years. As long as it works, why would I stop using it? I still use my iPhone and Bluetooth for streaming and podcasts. But I've found the controls via the Mini's idrive to be flaky at best. Sometimes if I'm using Spotify or beats I can't even switch back to ipod functions.

My music library is also in a combination of MP3, AAC and Apple lossless. Will they all play directly from a usb storage device?

The world (read: Apple) may have moved entirely to SSD but that's not a reason to upgrade. That a device will fail someday is not a reason to upgrade. When it fails - that's a time to upgrade.

Incidentally, the only reason I want to move the iPod into the armrest is to free up/declutter the center console. There's hardly any storage space to begin with.

 

You mean these drives?

The Toshiba HDD Apple uses is VERY sturdy. If it created bad sectors from bumps you'd never be able to run with it. I've had an iPod Photo in my car since at least 2008 and it still works flawlessly.

Streaming is stupid. The quality is terrible and it chews up data. Using a 3.5mm also sacrifices sound quality. Using Apple Lossless means you don't have to deal with finding a FLAC compatible unit and it sounds just as good.

 

I agree about the reliability for the most part. The sound quality I get via Beats is fine for me though. Problem is using it. Streaming is just not reliable yet. Net connection varies, the app is unreliable, mini doesn't interface well with it. Still an evolving tech. When I can get a 128gb SSD ipod I'll be a happy man though.

 

You could never get an adapter for the armrest that would hold an iPod, only phones. I use a 2005 iPod 5th gen, and have for years, never skipped one time. Because I literally have almost 10k songs I don't need to mess with streaming. If it's anything like Sirius Radio the quality sucks. Those radio stations sound so bad I won't listen to them (only sports and talk for me thanks). Thanks for reminding me to look for a 160gb iPod on Ebay for when mine bites the dust lol. You can probably buy them for a hundred bucks. I can even show video on my car's screen from it.

 

Streaming can vary in quality. Beats has an hq mode which is 320kbs. Sounds as good as you can reasonably want in a car. But being a fellow Phoenician I would steer clear due to connectivity issues. Too many times it drops out as you pass by a butte ;-)

In my BMW I kept my iPod out of the way in the armrest (which is where the USB port was). I'd like that setup in this car.

 

I don't think the armrest is big enough for an iPod, and the connector sleeve for a phone is over $100. As they say it's the most expensive phone charger you can buy. They didn't exactly catch on.

 

Is there any difference between connecting my iPhone to the USB port or using a snap-on connector (which I don't have for my iPhone 5c)?