Civic 11th gen with old iPod, solutions?

[erlking]

Hey guys, I'm looking at getting a new Civic. I would love to be able to use my 2007 iPod to play music in the car. Don't judge, everyone has their hobbies and ancient tech is mine.

In my current car (2022 Camry) I connect the iPod via USB and I can control it on the infotainment system. The 2025 Civic that I tried in the dealership did not recognize the iPod when connected by USB, however the 2023 model did. They didn't have a 2024 for me to try. So Honda must have ripped out the iPod support either 2024 or 2025.

Unfortunately the new cars don't have aux, otherwise that would also be an option.

I've done some research about possible solutions. One suggestion I saw is a Bluetooth adapter, like this (link). However I wasn't sure if something like this would work with the pairing process in cars which requires PIN codes etc. Then I was thinking of finding an 2023 or earlier head unit to swap in, but I don't know how hard that would be. I wouldn't be willing to mess up the cameras or something for this.

Does anyone have ideas? If there is an adapter or something out there that's sure to work, then I'm happy to spend some money on it.

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[latole]

I have some olds I Pods a t home and my Civic is a 2025
How can I see what years they are ?
Or easier with IOS version ? What is your IOS ?

 

[Cueyo]

Don't judge, everyone has their hobbies and ancient tech is mine

It's not that old!

I would suggest against the Bluetooth link thing, I believe you need to tune into a radio station so there's some static associated with it that ruins the sound imo. I think you'd have a better time throwing everything on a USB tbh, but can't think of anything better.

 

[latole]

2007 is very very old

 

[erlking]

2007 is very very old

I know...but it kills me that they still had the support in 2023! Would it have been so hard to keep it in?


You can use this to identify the old click wheel iPods:


If yours are the iPod touch then I don't know, you can probably search up the serial number.

 

[latole]

I should have the same looking I Pod than yours....somewhere.
I have to other models with touch screen

 

[latole]

Would it have been so hard to keep it in?

I don't know , maybe.......And if nobody, except you, use it.
Since many years as you know we use phone

 

[latole]

I found mine, its older than yours. It not show in the link . It is more square.
You need bluetooth to play music in the car, mine don't have.

 

[TypeRD]

@erlking I understand your pain. I love CD’s and never stopped buying them…but CD players in cars are almost completely gone now. There’s gotta be a solution to your problem, though. I think, and I may be wrong, but there has to be at least 1 USB input somewhere…given that these cars require software updates and doing them over the air isn’t always the most reliable way to go.

 

[latole]

I pod don't work using USB

 

[Zpeedster M]

My 1990 Sony Walkman cassette player works fine with my FL5

 

[erlking]

@erlking I understand your pain. I love CD’s and never stopped buying them…but CD players in cars are almost completely gone now. There’s gotta be a solution to your problem, though. I think, and I may be wrong, but there has to be at least 1 USB input somewhere…given that these cars require software updates and doing them over the air isn’t always the most reliable way to go.

Thank you for the serious response. Yeah I wish it were as easy as having USB. The 2025 Civic I tested had a USB-C port for CarPlay/Android Auto, but it just couldn't talk to the iPod. I think that unlike using a flash drive, some proprietary software is needed to connect with it and read the song info.

Now, the 2023 Civic had perfect support for the iPod even after all these years. I didn't get to try a 2024 but I noticed that the 2024 and 2023 have USB-A ports, but in 2025 they changed over to USB-C. If I could find a new 2024 Civic then it would be worth a shot...but I don't think the dealerships near me have any...

Did you ever find a solution to the CD thing? I think our problems are related. If there's a way to add aux in to a new car, then I would be able to use the iPod that way too.

 

[blueroadster]

Lack of compatibility may also be caused by newer systems checking for a Digital Rights Management (DRM) flag. If the DRM flag is not there, no play. If it is, you are good.

 

[erlking]

Lack of compatibility may also be caused by newer systems checking for a Digital Rights Management (DRM) flag. If the DRM flag is not there, no play. If it is, you are good.

Intriguing....is there a way to tell what DRM flags the car may be looking for? The message I got was just "USB device not supported", it wouldn't even see the iPod. So it didn't seem related to restrictions on any specific music files. (Which are all legal of course )

 

[blueroadster]

Okay...Does not sound like a DRM issue then. "USB device not supported" usually means that the host system does not recognize the device itself after connecting and when it tries to register its device class.

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