iPod Touch Dock Connectors

[Bedawyn]

Sorry if this is a dumb question -- I've been out of touch for a few years and am now hopelessly behind on my geekery.

I'm about to buy a 32GB Touch, which I would dearly love to work with my old but still perfectly functional Altec Lansing speakers (which were designed to work with the 40G Clickwheel iPod). Will the speakers' dock connector still work with the Touch, or will I need to get some sort of dock converter, and if so, which one? I see that the iPod Touch comes with a "dock adapter" in the box, but that's pretty vague -- what kinds of things will it fit?

 

[darkpaw]

The Dock adapter in the box is simply a piece of plastic that clips into a dock. The original docks were moulded to a certain shape - some of the newer iPod models won't fit the original shape of the cutout in the dock, so this adapter is provided for people who use one of the newer 'universal' docks.

AFAIK the pins are practically the same, but if your speakers used to charge your iPod, you may find that they don't anymore. This is mostly the case for the iPhone 3G, though it's likely Apple made the change to other models, too.

 

[obe1k]

It's difficult to say if your devices will work/charge with the new Touch.

I have the older Altec Lansing inMotion speakers which I used for my 20Gb 4th gen. They will not charge my 2G Touch but plays the music fine. Not sure if the remote functions work as it's broken.

My Alpine car stereo ipod cable works with the 2G Touch but again, won't charge it.

I also have a newer Logitech PureFi Anywhere speaker system which fully works with the Touch - Plays, charges, and remote functions.

My older apple AC wall adapter with USB charges the 2G Touch just fine, but another 3rd party (phillips) portable charger will not.

Best thing would be to research the particular product to see if anyone else has tried it.

Also check out the Scosche passPort
http://www.scosche.com/products/productID/1667
supposedly it fixes the charging error you get with older ipod accessories.
I bought one but it hasn't arrived yet.. so can't say how it works.

 

[Bedawyn]

Thanks! Those speakers are probably the same ones I have, and I can live if they're only speakers, since I didn't buy them to charge anyway. But knowing they won't charge it ahead of time will save me a lot of confusion and frustration later.

 

[Bedawyn]

I have the older Altec Lansing inMotion speakers which I used for my 20Gb 4th gen. They will not charge my 2G Touch but plays the music fine.

Hmm. I'm pretty sure those are the same speakers I have (I guess there might be more than one style of "older" inMotion speakers), and it's not working. The pins seem to fit easily and securely, but the music still comes out of the Touch "speaker" and not the real ones. Any hints?

 

[obe1k]

I have to actually hold the iPod Touch straight in the dock or it won't work as I don't have the adapter to make it sit in there properly.
It's not a good idea to let it just flop around or the connector may get damaged.

I also get the pop-up message saying that 'charging is not supported with this accessory'

...unless I use my new Scosche Passport where it charges fine, although the Touch sits way up high.