Some one of the newer head units have a USB port in the front, such as my Kenwood DPX-701. You can insert a USB thumb drive filled with mp3s and the head unit will play the files. When I connect my iPOD to the USB port, all it does is charge the IPOD. It does not read the data on it. Yes, I have already tried the Kenwood IPOD adapter and it is a terrible product. Yes, I can use the AUX input via mini-jack, but I want to keep everything digitial.

My question is, is there a way to make the IPOD appear as a USB thumb drive?

Some one of the newer head units have a USB port in the front, such as my Kenwood DPX-701. You can insert a USB thumb drive filled with mp3s and the head unit will play the files. When I connect my iPOD to the USB port, all it does is charge the IPOD. It does not read the data on it. Yes, I have already tried the Kenwood IPOD adapter and it is a terrible product. Yes, I can use the AUX input via mini-jack, but I want to keep everything digitial.

My question is, is there a way to make the IPOD appear as a USB thumb drive?


All the car stereo ipod controllers use an analog connection AFAIK - the wires in the ipod's dock connector are analog, not digital. The stereo is sending control signals to the ipod that are controlling the ipod and telling it what to play. the "quality" via the headphone jack and the dock line out should be exactly the same.

I would guess that you may get better quality by connecting the ipod via the usb connection. In that case the head unit would be reading the mp3 off the ipod as if it was a hard drive.