dock iPod, small adaptor

[Ja Di ksw]

Hi all. I just now opened my new 10 GB dockable iPod, and am only slightly less absorbed in it than I was with my 5 GB 1G iPod. Especially with the ability to change ratings of songs on the iPod.

Anyway, while going through everything, I found a small adaptor. It's solid, and about an inch long, maybe a little bigger, with a rectangular cross section. On one end, you can plug a firewire cable into it, and on the other end is a small plug for something that I don't know. I can't see it fitting anywhere onto the iPod, including the jack next to the headphones jack (BTW, besides for the voice recorder, what is that second hole for?), and it doesn't look like it goes anywhere on my computer. Any ideas what it is for? I could attach a pic if needed, but my camera is at another house fairly far away and I'm betting someone already knows.

Thanks

[benixau]

That small adapter is a 6pin Firewire to 4pin Firewire adapter.

Some pcs (ok, pretty much just sonys) use 4pin Firewire (unpowered) instead of the standard computer 6pin.

Digital Video Cameras (DVC) use 4pin as firewire couldn't power them and they need to save space.

That little hole at the top of the iPod is the remote connector. It is used for the tethered remote and (this I didn't know till reading your post) the recorder.

If your using a mac you don't need that adapter, even most pcs (again, only sony pretty much DOES) don't need it as all firewire cards are 6pin based.

[Ja Di ksw]

awesome, thanks for the info

[WannabeSQ]

just for the record, I have a Compaq laptop, and it has the 4 pin port, as does my friend's Dell Laptop. I guess only apple realizes the genius of powered port so you can power some hard drives, like the firefly lite thing. I guess they need to save their pathetic battery life for those powerhungry processors.

[benixau]

Originally posted by WannabeSQ
just for the record, I have a Compaq laptop, and it has the 4 pin port, as does my friend's Dell Laptop. I guess only apple realizes the genius of powered port so you can power some hard drives, like the firefly lite thing. I guess they need to save their pathetic battery life for those powerhungry processors.

I stand corrected - thankyou for that correction.

I thought only Sony used it (seeing as they invented it (the 4pin variant))

I wonder if any other PC laptop manufacturers do this too?

Thanks for the correction.

[patrick0brien]

Originally posted by benixau
I stand corrected - thankyou for that correction.

I thought only Sony used it (seeing as they invented it (the 4pin variant))

I wonder if any other PC laptop manufacturers do this too?

Thanks for the correction.

-benixau

At the risk of picking a nit, let's not give sony too terribly much credit for 'inventing' the 4-pin. As we know it;s an abbreviation of the original 6-pin FireWire (IEEE1394a) that Apple invented.