[AppleheadMay]

I only use a portable audio player via USB in my car and the one I have is an iPod Classic.

I need a non-Apple one with as less features as possible, only need to store files and have them read by my car stereo.
I would like quite a bit of storage though, either built-in or via SD cards.
I don't need high-end DAC and amp stuff built in, I only need the storage and need to be able to easdily put music on it (copy to it from a Mac and later sync with a backup application).

I do like the Pioneer XDP-300R and now where to find one cheap, not that the price matters much to me.
Or do I need to look to other brands.
Or can I simply connect a USB HDD in my car instead of a player?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Does your car audio come with an analog input?
Will the car's audio USB connection even work with non-apple audio devices?

 

[AppleheadMay]

Does your car audio come with an analog input?
Will the car's audio USB connection even work with non-apple audio devices?

Yes it does but I don't want to use that since I can't control it from the screen then. Like now I can choose genres, albums, etc ...

It's a BMW 535i 2013 (F10 series). According to the manual it should support iPod, iPhone, and certain MP3 players and USB sticks, not all it says.
Maybe a 512GB USB stick? Should be USB2 I guess, 3 won't work?

 

[Weaves]

When it comes to cars, the best cheapest route is to just get 200-500GB usb flash drive.

I got one similar to this one;

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-MUF-...SCVC9YTCN64&psc=1&refRID=TH2MVQ0EDSCVC9YTCN64

I just leave it plugged in all the time.

 

[AppleheadMay]

I just tried a 64GB Flash Drive, didn't read in the USB port where the iPod should be in.
Maybe the file format? I tried FAT32 and exFAT.

It did read in the other usb port in the gloves compartment but that one can only be used to copy files to the internal storage of the car ./.. only 12,5 GB.

 

[Weaves]

I just tried a 64GB Flash Drive, didn't read in the USB port where the iPod should be in.
Maybe the file format? I tried FAT32 and exFAT.

It did read in the other usb port in the gloves compartment but that one can only be used to copy files to the internal storage of the car ./.. only 12,5 GB.

Bummer.

See if this video helps:

 

[AppleheadMay]

Bummer.

See if this video helps:

Yep, that's importing onto the 12,5GB drive i talked about.
Will call the buggers tomorrow to see if they can upgrade the drive but that drive also house you navigation, multimedia software and complete car setup.

 

[Weaves]

Yea, in terms of auto infotainment, 2013 was ages ago. Good Luck.

Sorry i couldn't help more

 

[AppleheadMay]

Yea, in terms of auto infotainment, 2013 was ages ago. Good Luck.

Sorry i couldn't help more

Thanks for trying to help anyway!

But ... it worked!

I was almost doing everything right:
- USB stick: anything should work, read reports of sticks upto 512GB, even a USB-powered 1TB HDD was reported working even when the manual says it wwon't.
- FAT32, will try ExFAT tomorrow.
- I was stupid enough to simply copy my ALAC files to it, I now converted them to AAC and the car read the stick immediately.

So, since Apple killed iTunes and the column browser it had I ditched their Music app. I only used iTunes for organising and tagging.
Switched completely to some apps I was already using: Roon for playback, XLD/dBpoweramp for ripping, PerfectTUNES/Metadatics for tagging.
Now I can ditch the iPod Classic and replace it with a large USB stick.
Make a sync-backup task in CCC to update the stick from time to time.