How To: Connect Your iPod to the Xbox 360

February 20, 2007 By Digital Trends Staff

We show you how to connect your Apple iPod to the Xbox 360.

You are a consumer gadget hound. You have the cool cell phone, the high-definition entertainment system, the keyless start on your new car. You also own an iPod and an Xbox 360, two top-selling products developed byrival companies Apple and Microsoft. Wouldn’t it be great if you could play some of the audio content stored on your iPod through your Xbox 360 so you could enjoy it over yourstate-of-the-art entertainment system? There is a relatively simple way to do this, with references by Microsoft to the iPod on the Xbox 360 support system even providing some of the cues. For thequick and dirty guide to getting your iPod to connect with your Xbox 360, read on.

With your Xbox 360 connected to Xbox Live, you’ll need to download the optional iPod Support file posted on the Xbox 360′s online service. This file lets you listen to non-DRM (digital rights management) AAC files (Apple’s preferred audio format). To find it, select Xbox Live Marketplace, Game Downloads from the Xbox Live area of the Xbox Dashboard.
Choose All Games and select Alphabetical List of Games.
Choose Optional iPod Support twice and then Confirm Download to download the file.
With the download complete, choose Done and return to the Xbox Dashboard.
Connect your iPod to the Xbox 360 through the digital audio player’s cable.

Xbox 360 Dashboard

Xbox 360 Dashboard Screenshots

Showing 53 comments

Noah King at 5:46pm 9th March 2011 My gamertag is EagleEye535, but um yeh it's gay as crap
1. levi at 6:03pm 28th March 2011 U're so right
Juan medina at 8:18pm 14th January 2011 Can fukin Microsoft and apple just kiss and make up so everyone can be happy . I'm sick of not being able to listen to music while playing black ops Jony2137 is my gamertag
1. levi at 6:03pm 28th March 2011 U ROCK jony2137!
bradley watson at 10:33pm 27th December 2010 I just plugged in my "ipod nano" into my "elite xbox 360" via usb. i went into music library and clicked on "ipod", and whats written on the right side is "Song info is unavailable for this device", i do not know what this means, and i am very frustrated, if someone could guide me to the solution, it would be muchly appreciated. cheers :D
1. levi at 6:02pm 28th March 2011 What happened is someone hacked into u're XBOX &IPOD.
U ALL ARE DUMB at 3:14am 17th November 2010 u guys are all dumb this works perfect
1. Amrito at 5:54pm 7th December 2010 Yeah, i was going to get one for Christmas, but im not so sure.....
2. Comanche42 at 4:43pm 14th January 2011 For you it does people would not be putting comments on here for fun and to throw other people off. It does not work for every body i doesent work for me but my friemd across the street has no problem we dont know why. It works for you thats great for you i have the new xbox 360 and it still doesent work. Saying it works perfectly and telling other people that they are dumb because it doesent work for them doesent make it so my friend. So mabe you should think that this isnt a perfect world that you would like to believe it is. Think before you post stupid comments like this that make you look like an asshole.
  1. levi at 6:00pm 28th March 2011 shut up!!!!!!!!!
sdfkd at 6:09am 14th November 2010 this dosen't work with the ipod touch and iphone
Mr.person at 1:33pm 7th November 2010 Does this it work with an ipod mini
1. levi at 6:08pm 28th March 2011 NO! It doesn't they are just lieing to get money.
ben at 2:43pm 6th November 2010 I tried as explained , nothing will show up, and I got a regular ipod
adam at 12:37pm 5th November 2010 I cant even find the file! It Jus downloaded some weird new update, and I dobt even kno where to even start to look for the filrme! Please help! Thanks!
Tittehs at 2:42pm 3rd November 2010 I tried this, and the music showed up, but wouldn't play. It only played music that I put on my iPod from CDs, which is quite a small number.
Cappy at 7:51am 10th October 2010 it works, just do what the post says, keep the ipod connected to the xbox, and restart the xbox, go to music and the ipod should be there. worked for me.
kieran at 7:31am 27th September 2010 i can do it on my i pod nano but my brother said that he cant becase he has a i pod the big one but not the i pad i pod does that make diffrence please reply
1. Comanche42 at 4:31pm 14th January 2011 No it doesent ipod shuffle-ipad all the same Ipad is just an enhanced version of an ipod touch Ipod touch is just an enhanced version of the normal ipod Normal ipods are just an enhanced version of ipod shuffle All apple products are close to the same technology Enhanced versions of eachother This does not work for me either i have an ipod an ipod touch and an ipad and non of them work IDK Ipad curtisy of NWKTC College first ipad campus in the USA.
Harry at 2:45pm 11th September 2010 This doesn't work all music from CD's that's on my iPod is fine but otherwise the music just won't be played.
1. Dallas S at 2:27pm 3rd December 2010 thats because the music from CDs are in ACC format and the other songs youve most likely purchased from itunes or gotten from another source are stored in a different format. to change this, though, it is a hassle, just go to your itunes library right click on a song and hit "make MP3 version" this will convert that song to ACC format when specified.
  1. Wlad at 11:00am 18th February 2011 There's an update for that.
Mitch at 12:44am 14th July 2010 i cannot get my ipod nano to work through my xbox elite. its the new nano with video camera. very frustrating to spend that kind of money on something and not get it to work. any ideas?
Dan at 4:31am 3rd July 2010 Great news everyone! You can play mp3 songs through your ipod on the 360! The iPod touch is not supported but the new nano is (5th generation). When I buy tracks from itunes I convert them to mp3 to ensure full compatibility so my whole music library is in mp3 format and when I plugged my new Nano into the Xbox they played! Still no support for the touch though =(
Jay-Ru at 6:12pm 22nd June 2010 when you purchase songs from the iTunes store they are not in the AAC, they download as m4a from the store, you have to manually convert them to AAC in your iTunes player if you want them to play on the xbox.
at 10:30pm 21st June 2010 I didn't found that "software" of the 360... only I can play some songs.. but the ones from the iTunes store... I cannot play them
Tom at 11:47am 11th June 2010 yeah ipod touches and iphones wont work cause apple dont want people editing the software, but if you jail break it i think theres an application you can get for it.
Davis at 9:21pm 9th May 2010 well i just tried the download AND plunged my Itouch into both front and rear usb ports and it will not read it. it must be a stupid apple and moneyhungrysoft thing. :/
chad at 5:58pm 4th May 2010 you can only use up to 16gb per usb port on the xbox, joel. so your 1tb argument is invalid.

did you already get rid of that PS3?
Joel at 8:29am 19th April 2010 Microsoft and Apple won't accept eachothers licensing agreements so you can only listen to music you have copied to your iPod from a source other than iTunes as this music is free from the licence that iTunes applies.

Dan.. just because the update doesn't let you do what you want doesn't mean it's useless. I can now plug my 1tb hardrive into my 360 and watch everything so I have now been able to get rid of my Ps3. previously the 360 struggled with anything over 50gb.

Blame Apple not MS because while Apple are desperate for everyone to own their products they still want to make sure you can't use them in the way you want, yet we all still buy them, me included. MS at least try to find ways round Apples attempts at blocking compatibility.
fly13 at 5:15pm 15th April 2010 It doesn't let me listen to my purchased music. Can anyone tell me why?
Dan... at 10:07am 13th April 2010 it still wont work even with the update :( i've been trying and trying to download maybe 50 times a second!?!? still MS made a pointless update of making usb drives a second hard drive... my IPOD NANO won't connect even without the update.... FML
airranger1975 at 6:50am 10th April 2010 come on micro soft.....my ipod touch wont connect....get it sorted.......
nick at 8:14pm 5th April 2010 dosent work for any ipod not even my old video wtf
*The Happy Hacker* at 12:28pm 30th March 2010 attention all people trying to use ipods and ipod touches TOUCHES DO NOT WORK THEY RUN OFF OF A DIFFERENT SYSTEM THAN THE 360 THERE IS NO UPDATE FOR THIS FROME EITHER APPLE NOR MICROSOFT as for other ipods you need to download a update located in the game add on section on Xbox Live located under "O" download the update and you should be fine I have a brand new shuffle had problems until the update. Hope that helps some of you! :)
Metal at 4:50pm 27th March 2010 it works for me with my iPod video 30GB... but only on the rear usb port, dosent work with the front ports i dont know why !!
on the front ports, the iPod dosent even turn on!
lSd3d at 9:40pm 26th March 2010 To: Ben Stewart
The controller ports on the front of the Xbox 360 are, in fact, USB ports. Try connecting your ipod via the USB cable.

Hopefully, MS will update soon. It would be nice to be able to use the new video ipods.
1. ralph at 11:16pm 16th July 2010 "To: Ben Stewart The controller ports on the front of the Xbox 360 are, in fact, USB ports. Try connecting your ipod via the USB cable. Hopefully, MS will update soon. It would be nice to be able to use the new video ipods. " really they're usb ports? and the entire time i was trying to jam it into the disk tray. DUH everyone know those are usb ports, and this is about the ipod touch not the video u doorknob, lol
Tibi at 10:18am 17th February 2010 I've had a 30GB video and a 8GB Touch and neither of these iPods worked
whitefire15 at 7:40am 11th February 2010 it dosent even recognize my ipod 30G, anyother suggestions???
Sky at 1:48am 7th February 2010 I don't think it works for iPhones either. Mine isn't recognized.
whitechapel at 3:26pm 31st January 2010 the ipod still doesnt show up, is it cause its a touch?
Ben Stuart at 7:20pm 15th January 2010 me neither... When it says "Connect your iPod to the Xbox 360 through the digital audio player’s cable", does it mean the digital audio output on the 360's AV connector?
abraham at 8:46pm 8th January 2010 how come it plays my music but when ur about to choose the ipod it says ipod n not my ipods name ???? n also i cant choose my playlist or nothing it just says play all ??????? wat do i need to do ???
Daniel at 12:23pm 4th January 2010 Doesn't work for me. I have an old 30gb iPod video.
1. Ben at 7:14pm 15th January 2010 me neither... When it says "Connect your iPod to the Xbox 360 through the digital audio player’s cable", does it mean the digital audio output on the 360's AV connector? I tried the USB ports on the front and on the back above the Ethernet jack. Neither port recognizes my iPod or my portable hard drive for that matter. It seems like I can stream music through my network connection from my computer to the 360. That's my next option.
mjjmk at 1:23pm 30th December 2009 i dont think this works on newer ipods like the ipod touch. mine doesnt work because mine is a touch. classics and older nanos work fine.
Andrew at 8:17am 22nd December 2009 It's worked fine for me for months, probably over a year. It just won't play songs that you've purchased from the iTunes store. Anything that you've added to your iPod yourself should work fine.
Jay at 3:57pm 18th December 2009 This didn't work for me. it doesn't even reconize my ipod touch, and my ipod nano it read the music but then turns says there's an error when trying to play the music.
sflkljas at 10:27am 7th August 2010 same here
Guest at 2:51pm 11th August 2010 it does not work with ipod touch.
Micael at 5:55pm 30th March 2011 Same here
andy at 12:06pm 9th November 2010 That's real gay, most ppl with ipods have Touch, at least ppl I know.