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.

Yes, yes, "a smartphone", I know that one. Phones *suck* as music players for me because the controls are on a touchscreen, which tends to lock, making them COMPLETE ASS while driving.

I want a device that plays music with:
1) a standard stereo out that will go to my car's stereo in.
2) at least 30GB of storage
3) CONTROLS THAT I CAN OPERATE ONE-HANDED WITHOUT LOOKING AT THEM. I don't care if I have to look at it to select a specific track or podcast or something, but I want to be able to reach down from the gearshift and, at the very least, manage play/pause/forward/back, by touch alone.
4) Controls that let me choose specific tracks, playlists, podcasts, etc if I *am* looking at them.

Nice to have: Syncs to the old version of iTunes that I've neutered down to the way I like it and that I use to sort my music.

Basically, the perfect device that works exactly the way I want it is the 6th generation iPod Classic, which, since it's a perfectly good tool that fills an important niche that the iPhone doesn't, Apple no longer makes it. You can get them on eBay for, like, $800 and fuck that. It's actually the device I've got right now, but despite lasting WAY longer than any Apple product normally does, it's starting to fail on me (it crashes and the battery life isn't great any more).

So. I'm not spending $800 for a used device, or even for a "new in box" Apple device manufactured in 2014. Apple's batteries are legendary, and not in a good way - my device living as long as it has makes it an outlier. Who makes a device these days, that plays music through a stereo jack, with controls that can be operated by touch?

Comments

[rbarclay]

The standard way of "just a buy a proper car stereo already" is probably not viable, I guess?

I have the predecessor of this, and it pretty much Just Works and does what you listed (sans iTunes, which I don't have). Takes a microSD for more storage.

Looking through https://geizhals.at/?cat=mmp&sort=p&xf=262_0.5%7E269_USB+2.0 there seem to be at least some of the old mp3-player factory lines still running, and a couple of rebadgers touting them to sport-y types.

[theweaselking]

I have a proper car stereo. From 2006. That's why it's got an aux-in.

(I'm not interested in sinking more money into this car, no, and a new car is waiting until next year. And even then, with "one hand" covered by steering wheel controls or something like that, there's a the problem of getting the music in and synced in a way I like)

Re: the thing - doesn't look like it's got a whole lot of control over the music once it's on the player, though. How do you select a specific track or podcast?

[rbarclay]

I got myself a car stereo that has an SD slot, and also takes USB devices like sticks, ~€70. I fully expect it to be transplanted into the next vehicle (I think I got it when I still had the last car).

And even then, with "one hand" covered by steering wheel controls or something like that
I fail to parse this.

there's a the problem of getting the music in and synced in a way I like)

Stuff whatever you like onto an SD card or USB stick? Mine even honors .m3u playlists (found that out by accident).

Re: the thing - doesn't look like it's got a whole lot of control over the music once it's on the player, though. How do you select a specific track or podcast?

You have "forward" for "next track", and "back" for "previous". I think by holding the buttons you can fast-forward/-reverse. It displays filenames & ID3 tags for identifying tracks. That's it. No, there's no search or directory listings/trees or similar.

[theweaselking]

I fail to parse this.

My requirement that I be able to operate the player with one hand is satisfied by controls mounted on the steering wheel (as tends to happen with modern car stereos).

And: I tend to treat cars as single objects. I hate *hassle*, and modding it and swapping out bits gives me hives. This is, admittedly, my issue.

[rbarclay]

My requirement that I be able to operate the player with one hand is satisfied by controls mounted on the steering wheel (as tends to happen with modern car stereos).
Ah, never had that. Of course I've been conditioned all my (driving) life to just reach down blindly to the stereo, so I'm not missing it, either.

[cyprinella]

I have an older Sony MP3 Walkman that fits everything but the drive size. This is the current version which sadly is getting horrible reviews. I like the one I have a lot and apparently it's completely uninteresting to people who break into cars as they walked off with $10 of quarters but left the player. https://smile.amazon.com/Sony-NWE395-Walkman-Player-Black/dp/B01CCESGDO/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1490976414&sr=1-3&keywords=sony+walkman

They've got a 64GB version that has different controls-although it does still have buttons-but it's a lot more expensive. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00OCJRX8C/ref=psdc_1264866011_t3_B01CCESGDO

[lafinjack]

"Nice to have: Syncs to the old version of iTunes that I've neutered down to the way I like it and that I use to sort my music."

10.7 or something like that here, you?

[theweaselking]

10.6

[lafinjack]

I also use iSyncr to sync from iTunes to Android. A bit clunky, but works well overall.

http://www.jrtstudio.com/iSyncr-iTunes-for-Android

[theweaselking]

I've tried that. I agree, a bit clunky but workable. The issue is that my phone *sucks* as a no-look touch-only music player. If I could afford to unlock the screen and navigate the controls every time, or if I could manipulate the teeny lock-screen controls without looking at them, it would be fine.

But operating the controls without looking at them and without needing to unlock the phone? Sucks.

[lafinjack]

Yeah, pretty much the same boat here since the iPod died, I'm just glad my car now has Bluetooth and steering wheel controls. I was not sure what device you were going with, and what systems they used, i.e. Android. I do know that while I'm too lazy to switch away from iTunes, foobar2k/Mediamonkey/etc have external storage syncing, and some will also pull from iTunes playlists, so that may be a workable solution.