Help Android head unit Ipod compatibility

[groveruk]

Hi all.
Just signed up as im having a problem with a head unit i've just fitted. Im fairly new to android as i only got my first android device about a year ago (Samsung S5) and that's been totally trouble free up to now, touch wood.

Ive just fitted this head unit and i've been told that it is ipod compatible.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Android-4...763?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item19eeaaa36b

The problem that im having is when i plug my ipod into the unit via a usb cable it will pick the ipod up but the playback menu is unreadable. It will play the songs on the ipod but im not able to access the music by artists, albums ect on the screen. Every song on the ipod comes up as one long list that is totally random in order and has no text that makes any sense. Also while the ipod is connected to the head unit you cant access any of the songs via the ipod itself as you constantly just get the synchronizing screen on the ipod whilst its connected.

This is a pic of the only menu it can bring up for the ipod. Its just one massive list of every song on it in unreadable text.


Does anyone know if i'll be able to ever get it to bring up the songs as it would on the ipod in artists, albums, songs ect?
Any help would be much appreciated. Cheers!

 

[mikedt]

I've seen this before with Apple iPods. The head unit is only looking at the filenames and directories, and not reading the iTunes database. iTunes on a PC or Mac when it transfers the music library onto an iPod, it deliberately obfuscates all the MP3, M4A filenames and directory structures into something random, and that's why the head unit is showing things like AGHL.mp3, AJAE.mp3, etc. which bare no relation to the actual songs or albums. But the proprietary iTunes database does have this information, which iOS on the iPod itself uses. Your head unit is 'iPod compatible" in that it can play songs from it, but you have no way of knowing which songs you want to play.

There's some head units, etc. have no problem with iPods.

Because they read the iTunes database that has the relevant information they require. But I'm sure a Chinese Android head unit doesn't do that. It would require an app to do it. Not sure if that exists, would have to look. It will have no problems with things like USB sticks, USB hard disks and most other non-Apple MP3 players. But then there's also some people howling because their "Made for iPod and iPhone" head units don't work with their Samsung Galaxys, etc.


The other thing can do is to "fix" the iPod into something that's somewhat less proprietary and Apple only, and this is something I have done and I know works. Basically you install another firmware onto the iPod, and it makes it work much more like any other MP3 player.
http://www.rockbox.org/
That's what I done, installed Rockbox, and the iPod is no longer dependant on iTunes to work. Can drag and drop MP3s to it like a regular hard drive, it plays them all normally, and can work with any devices that mounts the drive and reads the directories, filenames or ID3 tag metadata, like Android head units. However if you have the most recent iPod 6th gen, "iPod Classic", Rockbox doesn't support it.


Just thought of something I remembered, you can actually run Rockbox on Android as an app, Rockbox can read and show an iPod's iTunes database. However it is an unofficial port, very experimental and alpha.
http://rasher.dk/rockbox/android/

 

[ajay.acharyakv]

Hi, I recently bought a head unit that's iPod compatible. But when I connect the iPod to the head unit thru USB, it doesn't identify the device at all. There's a native iPod app on the car stereo which says NO SONGS and closes the app.
Do you think if I install ROCKBOX on my iPod, the head unit will identify the iPod?
The model name says rk3368 from the Android about menu and running on Android 8.1