Dock station to work with usb

[MicahC]

Hello,
I am getting rid of my ipod when I am getting a new Android smartphone. I have a nice sony music docking station I'd like to keep in service. When you put in your ipod on its stationary 30 pin connector, it charges and can play music. How can I use it on an android with usb. I know that if I get a female 30 pin to micro usb I'll be able to charge, but will it play music as well? Is there another fix? I don't recall installing any software in order to use it.

Anyone with experience?
Thanks

 

[TheStu]

Most music docks will have a 3.5mm jack in the back, you can use a male to male cable to connect your device through its headphone jack.

 

[MicahC]

Most music docks will have a 3.5mm jack in the back, you can use a male to male cable to connect your device through its headphone jack.

I am aware of the 3.5 mm jack, but it has a remote to control songs and stuff. I was hoping to keep that. its not the end of the world if it can't. I guess the more straightforward question is do 30pin connectors use a standard "language" that usb phones will respond to?

 

[TheStu]

I am aware of the 3.5 mm jack, but it has a remote to control songs and stuff. I was hoping to keep that. its not the end of the world if it can't. I guess the more straightforward question is do 30pin connectors use a standard "language" that usb phones will respond to?

No.

USB has 4 pins;
Ground
+Data
-Data
+5V.

The 30 pin has, as you may have guessed, 19 pins (6 pins are for Firewire, which is no longer used, 2 pins are not connected, and 3 pins are for composite video out which are also not used). Of those 19, 3 of them replicate the USB pins, and then there are another 4 that are dedicated to audio in/out. However, I do not know how the remote on your dock works exactly, so can't really say if you could even design and implement your own custom adapter (which would then need custom software on your Android device to interpret the incoming signals).

Conversely, you could just keep your iPod since it was designed for music playback.

 

[MicahC]

No.

USB has 4 pins;
Ground
+Data
-Data
+5V.

The 30 pin has, as you may have guessed, 19 pins (6 pins are for Firewire, which is no longer used, 2 pins are not connected, and 3 pins are for composite video out which are also not used). Of those 19, 3 of them replicate the USB pins, and then there are another 4 that are dedicated to audio in/out. However, I do not know how the remote on your dock works exactly, so can't really say if you could even design and implement your own custom adapter (which would then need custom software on your Android device to interpret the incoming signals).

Conversely, you could just keep your iPod since it was designed for music playback.

Thanks for the details.