iPod nano hookup to stereo question

Hello Everyone,

I had a great setup in my workshop when it came to paying my digital files, I used my old iPhone 4ever an iPod. I was able to hook it up to my stereo with a Apple iPhone to RCA cable. The setup worked great, however my daughter decided that she just had to have an iPhone, so I gave get mine. That left me with no music in my workshop. Well. My wife had an iPod she want using and she gave it to me. I think it’s called the nano, it’s the real small rectangular one with no controls on the unit itself. Everything is controlled via the earplugs, there is a button on the cord.

So here is where I’m confused, tonight I purchased a 3.5 to RCA cord that will plug into the output of the iPod and into the RCA jacks on my stereo, that’s the easy part. But then I realized that Apple didn’t put any controls on the stupid iPod. How can I make this work? Do I need to connect the earplugs, start the music and then unplug them and plug in the stereo connection? How can I control the iPods while connected to the stereo and why in the name of all that is Holy didn’t Apple put any controls on the iPod?

Sorry, I identified the model iPod I have wrong. It is not the nano, in fact I’m not sure what the model name was as it doesn’t look like it’s in Apple’s current lineup. It was their cheap model, rectangular in sharp and very small. It has no controls whatsoever on the iPod itself, everything is done through the earns cord. Mods if possible could you take “nano” out of the title. Thanks

Sounds like it is a 3rd generation shuffle (not a nano) and you need special headphones to control them according to wikipedia. It sounds like 3rd party headphones were made but no reference to a RCA cord. Seems like apple dropped the idea of a no control ipod after they made this one. Maybe break out the solder iron and convert the headphones to an RCA cord?

Edit: search for “3rd gen ipod shuffle RCA” and you’ll find what you need.

I’d be careful. After looking closer at my search results and I doubt that even the RCA cord sold by Apple would work. I don’t see any controls on the cord.

I did a google search for the term you suggested and the products offered are identical to what I’ve purchased. The problem is they say they’re compatible with the 3rd generation shuffle and technically they are. If you use this cord you will get the sound to pay on your stereo. The problem is, how do you then control the iPod? The chords I’m seeing don’t offer that function.

You need one of these:

Thanks, that’s exactly what I need. It allows control of the iPod and had a pass through for the RCA cable. And it’s less than $10!