Help me lazyweb.

[theweaselking]

Yikes, I haven't made a post in a while. OK, first New!Content! in a week.... tell me about music players

Comments

[glaurung_quena]

"since it's a perfectly good tool that fills an important niche that the iPhone doesn't, Apple no longer makes it."

IIRC, they stopped making them because they could no longer get the IDE hard drives that they were using in them. Yup, the never bothered to upgrade the innards to SATA. And then when the IDE drives stopped being made, the ipod classic was no longer selling well enough to pay for the redesign.

That said, if you have not yet replaced the hard drive in your ipod with a solid state card, that may revive it. IIRC, it involves a 1.8" IDE to CF adapter, and then optionally a CF to SD adapter. There are scads of instructions on the web for doing the upgrade, and people who sell kits for the job.

[glaurung_quena]

Aha! I found the link I couldn't find earlier: https://www.iflash.xyz/ sells ipod upgrade kits with all the parts needed, provides complete instructions, and is probably your one stop shop if you decide to try it.

[springheel_jack]

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01M1KSUJX/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=11A05IFFAOKV6&coliid=I3PMQSSCXM9WQG&psc=1

[theweaselking]

Nice. No iTunes sync but looks like it does everything else I want handily.

Thanks for the link.

[skington]

Thinking laterally here: does voice control help, if you can say e.g. "Siri, next track" and keep your eyes on the road?

[theweaselking]

Sort of no: I've never seen a voice control system that's worth a damn when you try to use it over, say, loud music or the sound of a conversation on a podcast. And if I need to pause the music in order to pause the music, that's a problem.

A friend of mine swears by the voice controlled stereo in her Focus, but she's also got on-wheel controls so she can whack "pause" with her thumb before issuing commands.

[skington]

OK, how about the "assistance for the blind" feature where you can run your finger over the screen and it says which button your finger's currently on, and then you can double-tap or something to actually press the button?

[theweaselking]

I've actually used Apple VoiceOver extensively and, um, it's bad for a couple of reasons

[pappy_legba]

How about bluetooth-over-airwaves instead of an aux jack? I use this-- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003PPGOC0/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 -- which has good connectivity and nice physical buttons.

EDIT: I haven't used the telephone functions, but the music controls work well.

[theweaselking]

Oooooh. That looks decent, and the price is right. It's an FM transmitter, so you set the car stereo to the right frequency and listen in?

I'd be curious to see how the multipoint bluetooth handles multiple devices with music players open, but for that price it's worth checking out.

Doesn't ship to Canada, but y'know. I can work around that.

[pappy_legba]

Yeah. The little knob lets you tune the radio transmitter. I'd think it's obvious, but I've seen people miss it: tune the radio to blank static and tune the transmitter to match, not vice-versa.

I never played with the multipoint much, just re-pair whenever I want to switch players (which isn't often).

[peristaltor]

First and foremost: Good job! Insisting on touch-only is key! The eyes must be on the road! And I say this as a professional driver with an 18-year safe driving record, something in which I take great pride.

I'm shocked at the cars that don't allow for touch-only. (Looking at you, Prius; seriously, going through a menu to turn on the defrosters?!? Fuck that noise.)

I'm notoriously cheap myself, so haven't been shopping, but....

Have you tried getting the battery replaced on your existing device? Replacing the drive and battery sound a lot cheaper than plunging in to new, untested stuff.

Is it possible?

(I'll have to do that with my Shuffle, soon, as well, alas.)