Connecting self-powered harddisk based MP3 player to iPad

I always find it interesting to connect my old gadgets to my new gadgets and see if that can generate new chemistry of new usage. Recently I brought an iPad Camera Connection Kit. The USB connector gave me an idea: what if I connect my iPod Classic 80Gb to my iPad using the connection kit?

The result: it's exactly like connecting the iPod Classic to a computer: I can use iFile app to access all the files that are in the general file partition. I cannot, however, access the song files on my iPod Classic. That is something I expected. Based on the same idea, I tried connecting my old iRiver H140 to my iPad, and find that I can access all the files on that iRiver player.

So there you go. Old harddisk based MP3 player can be used as portable harddisk for iPad.