[navin]

Originally Posted by navin

If you have the old 160GB ipod classic this product will allow you to add APTx capabilities to it.
http://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B008...ilpage_o01_s00

If you want to connect this ipod wirelessly to a 2 ch home audio system this product will enable that
http://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B00A...ilpage_o04_s00

Originally Posted by ampere

BT would be a bad choice for a music interface. The regular USB is a much better option.

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

I would agree. BT is like putting a choke in front. But BT has its uses too..

BT has improved quite a bit with the APTx format. I think some people refer to it as Bluetooth 4.0. See the links I posted earlier.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

GTO has mentioned iSyncR as one of the softwares which provides a way forward. I am yet to try that to port songs over to my S3 phone (need to look at what happens as the phone has less space than the classic).

I do use isyncr - it does a sort of decent job of transferring tracks over from itunes to your android, but the setup is fiddly, and don't ever let your wifi connection drop for any reason, it doesn't recover too gracefully from what I experienced (had to wipe the files from the android tablet using a file manager and restart the process).

One thing you will immediately notice is the crystal clear sound quality you used to get from an ipod and a decent set of speakers, versus the voice quality you get on an average android tablet when playing off the exact same speakers. Maybe this is just my memory playing tricks on me but I am not sure it isn't some software on the ipod that helps balance the audio.

[venuvedam]

I have thousands of songs in my collection. These days, I just use my smartphone via bluetooth to access my entire song repository from cloud. All my music is on Google Music. I stream it in my car all the time. Of course it becomes an issue when I go out of the 3G network area but for those long trips, I can always cache the most important albums on my phone.

I get it that BT may not offer the best music experience for an audiophile. But for me, it works well. Haven't used the CD drive or the USB interface in my XUV500 even once so far.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by navin

BT has improved quite a bit with the APTx format. I think some people refer to it as Bluetooth 4.0. See the links I posted earlier.

Thanks. Will check it out. On another note, if you connect through BT as a media, wont it hinder the phone operation? BT connection for phone is treated differently as connection to media. (At least thats what I see in my car).

[venuvedam]

Originally Posted by ampere

Thanks. Will check it out. On another note, if you connect through BT as a media, wont it hinder the phone operation? BT connection for phone is treated differently as connection to media. (At least thats what I see in my car).

My phone connects as media as well as phone. Whenever I get a call, the music is paused and the phone functions resume automatically. Once the call is done, the media mode takes over. Whatever song we are listening to - starts playing automatically.

It is all seamless.

[joybhowmik]

Originally Posted by ampere

Thanks. Will check it out. On another note, if you connect through BT as a media, wont it hinder the phone operation? BT connection for phone is treated differently as connection to media. (At least thats what I see in my car).

I think phone is connected as media (for content) and audio (i.e. for the calling itself). At least that's what it says on my S3 when I connect it to the HU (Pioneer)

[ampere]

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

I think phone is connected as media (for content) and audio (i.e. for the calling itself). At least that's what it says on my S3 when I connect it to the HU (Pioneer)

Exactly. But wont it be one connection at a point in time? While you are connected as a media through BT, what happens when a call comes? Would the connection on its own switch to phone mode? I doubt that.

[joybhowmik]

Originally Posted by ampere

Exactly. But wont it be one connection at a point in time? While you are connected as a media through BT, what happens when a call comes? Would the connection on its own switch to phone mode? I doubt that.

Yes the music is paused on the HU , until one finishes dealing with the call (either reject it or pick it up and then talk/hang-up).

For that matter the HU pauses music (if playing) from the ipod via USB, or playing from a CD.

It also interrupts voice guidance from the GPS when call goes on.

I think this is a HU function, and the BT and Apple protocols support the pausing.


And once done, with the call, the HU resumes playback.

[joybhowmik]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

The "Now what?" part is simple:
* Buy the iPod Touch if one wants an Apple device

* Keep using the old iPod, even if it means changing the battery to keep it alive (if the battery doesn't charge any more; if it doesn't hold charge for long you can still use it, since both while loading songs and while playing through dock connector, the device is powered). The only problem to be afraid of is the dinky hard-disk dying, but that is a rare phenomenon

And that's got me thinking - in the event that the disk does die (and all disks die with regular use), it should be possible to swap the disk with Flash memory?
In fact, there appears to be at least one provider for this but the DIY installation video looks a little forbidding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPx7q_5uLyI

Equally the provider has also done research on making this work on a high capacity SD card

Wondering if there are specialists in India who can do the work for a fee?

Of course the investment and risk can come to nought if Apple stops supporting ipod connection to itunes. - but then Apple are I think a little better than Microsoft in this respect. (though dont want to start an inane MS/Apple war - just a point of view)

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by ampere

... But wont it be one connection at a point in time? ...

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

... I think this is a HU function, and the BT and Apple protocols support the pausing. ...

Correct. The HU doesn't "mix" audio, it "switches" sources and tells the incumbent source to Pause. If the source is a stream which doesn't pause, like Radio, you lose content. On completion of call, HU switches back to old incumbent (pop from stack!) and issues Resume command.

Originally Posted by ampere

... While you are connected as a media through BT, what happens when a call comes? Would the connection on its own switch to phone mode? I doubt that.

There is a setting controlling whether it should automatically pick up call, and if so after how many rings. The default is usually Yes, and after 3 rings.

[StarScream]

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

Sorry to have seen the deafeningly silent way in which the quintessential Apple ipod classic 160 GB was officially removed from Apple stores. It's a matter of time, until re-sellers will run out of stock, and a few more months until replacements/repairs will be denied by Apple. As it happens with every other product that has run its course.

For those of us who have painstakingly collected the thousands of songs/movies in the ipod , and like to play it back through the ipod interface for commonly available HUs - what other options are there?

I know exactly how you feel. Just when Apple announced the death of the iPod, my 80GB iPod with some 32GB of music on it died, as if on cue (the disk crashed). I wondered what to do because when you're in the Apple ecosystem, its comfortable but you're also unaware of the options out there. My first thought was to buy a replacement 80GB or 120GB hard drive off eBay for about Rs. 6k and replace it myself. But as anyone who has opened an iPod knows, it's a royal pain.

So I did what GTO suggests below. Shocked at the price of memory cards (64GB for Rs. 2k?!?!?!?) I bought one for my Blackberry Z10, transferred all my music to it and haven't looked back since. Makes you wonder why Apple charges so much for memory? And also explains why they don't allow expandable memory.

Originally Posted by GTO

My suggestion:

- Get a high-end Android / iPhone with enough storage capacity. I've gotten a 64 GB SD card on my HTC One and carry my entire music collection with me all the time. Since you have 110 gigs of music, a 128 GB SD card will do just fine. As your music collection grows, so will smartphone memories & SD card capacities.

- With software such as iSyncR, you can sync your iTunes with your smartphone (playlists, songs, everything) over the air. Use Rocket Player to play Apple Lossless, FLAC etc.

- Connect via bluetooth to your head-unit. Why do you need an antiquated iPod? Modern Bluetooth head-units indeed allow you to browse your smartphone's music collection. In a car like the EcoSport, you could even give voice commands like 'Play Metallica'.

Exactly.

A few things about this. With BB10 phones, the official Link software syncs with iTunes so you don't need any additional software.

What I lose with this setup is iTunes playlists (need to make them afresh on the phone), album art and the general slickness and ease of use with Apple. It's not a major issue with me because I either listen to full albums or my entire music library on shuffle in the car.

The BB10 music app is pretty rudimentary. On the other hand, the customizations with a separate music app like Neutron is far beyond anything Apple offers.

Also in terms of quality, Bluetooth 2.0 has enough bandwidth for regular 256 kbps iTunes files. Higher bit rate formats will get compressed.

[royfernandez]

Originally Posted by venuvedam

I have thousands of songs in my collection. These days, I just use my smartphone via bluetooth to access my entire song repository from cloud. All my music is on Google Music. I stream it in my car all the time. Of course it becomes an issue when I go out of the 3G network area but for those long trips, I can always cache the most important albums on my phone.

I get it that BT may not offer the best music experience for an audiophile. But for me, it works well. Haven't used the CD drive or the USB interface in my XUV500 even once so far.

@ venuvedam & Ampere : I play the Internet Radio - Tune In through BT from my IPhone 5 and it works great with the Head Unit of my Ecosport AT. When I get a call it switches to the incoming call and I actually dont lose content because the Streaming Audio (Internet Radio) continues to play from where it was paused when the Phone call ends.

I always planned to buy the IPod Classic 160 GB and then Apple discontinued it and I was left kicking myself. I recently tried a 64GB USB Lexar Pendrive on the Ecosport Head Unit. The Head Unit recognizes & indexes the 64 GB Lexar Pen drive and plays it but with a rider - It grandly announces that since the number of songs exceed the number Voice commands for music are not available.

[ampere]

I really think Apple would also kill the iPod touch as its now pretty defunct as a product. And instead would release a new generation of iPod classic based on flash at 128GB. Thats what we all are looking for; just a high capacity player minus all the fanfare.

[Sebring]

Very happy with my 160 GB Classic. Paired it with a Boston player, so no fear of the battery dying on me. If it does, then I will replace. But it's a keeper!

[joybhowmik]

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

Equally the provider has also done research on making this work on a high capacity SD card

After due deliberation on this possibility , ultimately discarding the idea.

Let me describe the solution which was being considered first.
1) Buy the following stuff as shown below from www.tarkan.info:

2) Get a high capacity SD card (SDHC/SDXC) and format it as per instructions here. The price of the 256 GB ones are in excess of $100

3) Use the items 2,3 to force open the ipod Classic.
4) Once opened , disconnect the hard drive.
5) replace the ribbon connecting the hard drive to the board with the one supplied in item 1.
6) Attach the iflash CF adapter in place of the HDD to the other end of the new ribbon.

7) Attach the SD-CF adapter to the iflash CF adapter and fit the SD-XC
card

8) Put the cover back and enjoy - right?

Well , with a twist. Due to limitations of the Apple firmware , it won't recognize capacity beyond 128 GB.
If you wish to get around that limitation by installing non-Apple firmware on the ipod, then the device won't be recognized by iTunes any more.
Besides, the new firmware may or may not work.


So, I thought I had the answer, and was even prepared to shell out the big bucks and do the DIY and risk frying my ipod. But nada. no. Even if I do make it work, ultimately it won't be recognized by iTunes.

The search for a good solution continues -- i.e. with minimal disruption to my music and movie ecosystem.