CLASSIC GEN 6 160GB IPOD CAN NO LONGER CONNECT WITH THE NEW APPLE CAR PLAY SYSTEM

[soundhd]

Well this week we turned in our 2020 Ford Edge (which my 160gb Classic IPod's have always work with the USB port) until we picked up our 2024 Ford Edge that has the Ford Sync 4 and the Classic IPod's will no longer connect via the USB ports. A quick internet search shows that other late model vehicle owners are also having the same problem with other brands and models. So looks like I have two choices (1) to try a Bluetooth adapter but my "limited" experience with those is that they sound "crappy" and (2) invest in another brand of portable digital music player but most have limited memory space (only up to 30-40 gb) but I did fine one that looks very promising, the HiFi Walker H2...can have up to 512gb of memory space, has all the "bells & whistle" can connected to a USB port along with wireless connection(s) which I would rather not use. So I have ordered one and will get back with an update after I have had a couple days with it but all the reviews I have seen are very good....

 

[cjmnews]

Car Play requires iOS. The iPod does not have that obviously.

I found I can use lower capacity iPhones just fine with Car Play. I just rotate my music with iTunes on a weekly basis and use compressed audio (m4a/AAC). I also liked Bluetooth directly from the iPhone without Car Play, as Car Play requires Siri to be enabled (you can make it not listening all the time and use the power button to activate). I really dislike Siri being enabled.

The Bluetooth adapter can work, but they are hit and miss. I would be surprised to see if there is a headphone jack capable adapter still around these days as most high end phones don't have headphone jacks anymore.

As for the HiFi Walker H2, you'll be limited to Bluetooth. There is no operating system on that device that is compatible with Apple Car Play or Android Auto.

 

[soundhd]

OK, why was I able to use my IPod classic in our old 2020 Ford Edge? It had a version of Car Play and it worked fine...also why is it I can use a memory stick (thumb drive) with some tracks I put on it just as test and it works on the 2024 Edge......?

 

[cjmnews]

The older Ford had a secondary interface that could communicate with iPods, as was popular in the mid 2010s. Most likely this was NOT using Car Play, but a direct iPod interface left over from previous models of the same vehicle.

Since iPods became end of life (July 2017) then automotive developers dropped support for iPods in the early 2020s.

As for the thumb drive, the vehicle supports this mode to play media, as probably the 2020 Ford did as well.

 

[soundhd]

Well I could not figure out how to "edit" my original posting about my IPod classics not working on our new 2024 Ford Edge so I have to post an update here...

Anyway I have been using the HIFI Walker H2 for about 10 days in our new 2024 Ford Edge now and I am very happy with it.

One thing that I have noticed is the "random" play feature seems to work a lot better than the IPod Classics "shuffle" play (all of my Classic's are 6Gen 160gb units) and I am hearing tracks (songs) that I never heard on the IPod's (have over 3500 tracks (songs) on them.

I purchased a 356gb SD card for it (it comes with a 30gb card). Anyway this is my first experience using bluetooth for a music player so it took some getting used to but it does sound pretty good (have always used USB connections). I did try a couple bluetooth adapters trying to get the IPod to work in the Edge but would not connect correctly so the HIFI Walker (as far as I can tell) is the only one that has memory large enough to equal that of the 160gb IPods (and more).

The H2 does have a 3.55mm output connector but could not use that because the 2024 Ford Edge does not have a an aux input jack anymore either......
So if anyone is having issues with your classic IPods in any of the newer vehicles and like me "hate" the online music services as of now looks like the HIFI Walker H2 digital music player is the best option around...pretty low cost too..around 100 bucks.

 

[cjmnews]

Typically you just reply to the thread. I merged your post to the original thread. Then made it a bit more readable with white space.

The Apple "shuffle" is not great. I have a set of 30 playlists to make a better random on my iPods and iPhones.

If that SD card was not a name brand or picked up from a random unknown vendor on Amazon, I would use a free tool Validrive (https://www.grc.com/validrive.htm) to make sure it is actually 256GB.

There are lots of cheap fake SD cards and USB drives on Amazon and they pretend to be large capacity, but actually are 1/2 or 1/4 or less than that. These fake drives and cards will look like they are writing the data, but when you try and read it back it doesn't exist. The Validrive tool will tell you what the actual drive size is, and you can return it to Amazon if it is fake.

Unfortunately, Amazon is currently removing the reviews that warn of the fake drives since there are so many "positive" reviews from people that have not tested their drives and cards to be filled up and read back yet.