Audio: Connecting an older iPod via the USB

[Mike_Schlechter]

I have an older iPod with 120GB drive which has way more music than my 64GB iPhone5. I decided to use it as my music device via the USB connection. Alas, the car doesn't see the device.

Advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[youlikeadajuice]

Really? I was planning on doing that as well when my car arrives...that stinks.

 

[dsm363]

It doesn't yet see iPhones or iPods on USB yet but will on a USB thumb drive so that might be an option until then.

 

[widodh]

It doesn't yet see iPhones or iPods on USB yet but will on a USB thumb drive so that might be an option until then.

With "yet" do you imply that they will add iPod USB support at some point?

I prefer that over Bluetooth since BT is just another wireless protocol which isn't always working that great.

In the Roadster 2.5 I prefer the iPod USB over the BT anyway.

 

[dsm363]

With "yet" do you imply that they will add iPod USB support at some point?

I prefer that over Bluetooth since BT is just another wireless protocol which isn't always working that great.

In the Roadster 2.5 I prefer the iPod USB over the BT anyway.

I believe they are planning on adding support over USB but don't have definitive knowledge of that so I should have been more clear.
A USB thumb drive works well so have a 32GB drive in my car right now. I prefer the music over USB as well.

 

[sublimaze1]

It has something to do with the way flash memory and a hard drive are recognized. The Model S handles only the former.

 

[JakeP]

With "yet" do you imply that they will add iPod USB support at some point?

I prefer that over Bluetooth since BT is just another wireless protocol which isn't always working that great.

In the Roadster 2.5 I prefer the iPod USB over the BT anyway.

Is there any word on whether Apple devices will be supported over USB? There is no way to play AudioBooks (.aa) from a USB stick as far as I know, but they can be played from an iPod/iPhone.

 

[artsci]

Is there any word on whether Apple devices will be supported over USB? There is no way to play AudioBooks (.aa) from a USB stick as far as I know, but they can be played from an iPod/iPhone.

The problem that I have with Bluetooth is that it compromises the sound quality of music. This might not matter so much if I listened to popular music, but I listen mostly to classical, and given the dynamic quality and tonal range of classical instrumentation, Bluetooth is totally unsatisfactory.

 

[Robert.Boston]

The problem that I have with Bluetooth is that it compromises the sound quality of music. This might not matter so much if I listened to popular music, but I listen mostly to classical, and given the dynamic quality and tonal range of classical instrumentation, Bluetooth is totally unsatisfactory.

Which is why I have a 128GB USB stick that lives in my car. That's large enough to hold a big fraction of my collection in lossless formats.

 

[montgom626]

Which is why I have a 128GB USB stick that lives in my car. That's large enough to hold a big fraction of my collection in lossless formats.

How do you format it? NTFS?

 

[Ceilidh]

USB has been reported to work formatted to FAT32, with NTFS giving the car problems, so don't use that.

FWIW, about 2 months ago I was at the Santana Row Tesla store in San Jose and asked the rep about ipod/iphone USB control. I was specific in noting that in my Toyota, for example, one can connect in this manner but the functionality is quite poor. All you can do is go forward or back on whatever playlist was already open on the phone at the time you plugged it in, with no screen readouts on what is playing or anything. I asked how Tesla planned on handling this.

The rep told me that for both the basic and sound studio packages they were coming out with an interface that allowed a more functional browsing of the entire device with ability to browse the device while connected and with display of song titles and artists and such via the USB, but of course reps have been mistaken on points like this before so who knows.

Cheers.