Head Units with hard drives???

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

iPods arent normal HDD"s. They are flash. Similar to a thumb drive. 

 

Negative Ghost Rider. All iPod classics are still a normal disk drive w/ buffer, head and actuator arm. The nanos, minis, and touches are flash.

 

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

Ipods and external players are ok, but I wish to control the music through the head unit itself, not through the player. Half the time, when a Head unit is playing an Ipod, all the HU says is "MP3 playing" I would want name titles and everything.

both of my last 2 Pioneer decks charge and control the iPod through the head unit. It is considered a "full speed connection" In other words, it is just like a computer reading the ipod. Needless to say, I search and select songs via my HU remote. It also displays several pieces of information about the song through the deck LCD. Look into this further.

EDIT: Bah, Whitedragon covered this part already.

 

[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

Ipods and external players are ok, but I wish to control the music through the head unit itself, not through the player. Half the time, when a Head unit is playing an Ipod, all the HU says is "MP3 playing" I would want name titles and everything.

A headunit with a usb port, and using an ipod is the way to go. You can see and control everything from the headunit, you'd never have to touch the ipod. While a flash drive, ssd, or hard drive could work as welln it is terribly ineffective for most hu's for many reasons. I've done the research, and unfortunately the best and most feasible way is through the ipod.