IPod Dock Charge Adapter

Since it’s practically impossible to diagnose a problem like this without physical access to the iPod and the SoundDock, I’m going to give you a few ideas of what I’d try to do:

• If you have access to another iPod, try that of course, if that works, we’ve found a problem with your particular iPod.
• If you have access to another SoundDock… well, put your iPod in those and see if the problem lies in your SoundDock.
• Since the last two were two obvious (and you probably thought about them), let me tell you that you can go to an Apple Store with both devices and try the above combinations there. I’m sure that you will find another SoundDock in an Apple Store to try your iPod and that they also have iPods so you can try your Sound Dock. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
• In any case, the remaining obvious alternative is to restore the iPod, either to factory settings (and later using a backup) or to restore a backup (so you don’t lose everything).
• The final idea, is to try 4.2, but that should be the last step. You don’t want 4.2 to introduce new “undiscovered” problems on top of your old problem.

Sadly, there isn’t much else we can do from here. The can’t charge or incompatible device message is “ok” most of the time (I had that problem too with a car adapter), but it worked anyway.

I’m sorry I can’t come up with a better idea.

Just had this same problem... I fixed it by spraying a Contact Cleaner on my Ipod/ITouch.. and it works after... sometimes, Dust or Dirt will cause bad connection between the Unit and the Sound Dock Port *

You may want to look in the direction of Bluetooth audio. I recently used a loaner 328i while my BMW was being worked on. The car had BMW's iDrive setup with Nav and Bluetooth for phone and audio.

After pairing my iPhone with the car, it worked just as you're asking (with the added perk of not requiring a cable). On returning to the car, without removing the iPhone from my pocket, my music picked right up where it left off. Nice.

It was hard to go back to the "line-in" cable from the headphone jack when my car repairs were finished.

On review, I realize you were asking about car chargers as opposed to a more significant car audio change. I have a Monster FM adapter for iPod that provides the feature you are talking about. It is an older model, not compatible for charging iPhone 4, but it works well with my iPod touch 4th generation.

Here's a link to the current model on Amazon

An excerpt from one reviewer indicates:

As a final detail, I'll point out a feature that may be unique to the iCarPlay. When you turn off the car, the device stops charging the iPod. What I was delighted to discover is that when this happens, the iCarPlay sends a signal to the iPod to pause itself. This is simply good, smart, considerate design - it takes the onus off the user to remember to pause the iPod to avoid having the iPod battery run down for no reason.