Now Confirmed!
Key facts
iPod Touch is designed not to work with USB 1. x
If you want to use an iPod Touch you have to buy a machine with USB 2.0 ports.
Apple considers a machine that is four years old to be unsupportable.
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I spoke to the concierge at the Apple Store in Regent Street today about the problems I've been having (listed above), he said he's "never heard of an iPod doing that!"
He looked at the iPod and checked some menu options, not sure what, he didn't tell me.
I asked him a straightforward question
"Will the iPod Touch work with a USB 1 cable, and if not, why not?"
He checked on his iPhone. There was nothing to say it wouldn't work, but it definitely was better for me to have USB 2.0
We went upstairs to the Genius bar for iPods and he confirmed that it only supports USB 2.0 (it says so on the box) and that if I'm having problems with USB 1.0 it's definitely strange, but it's not supported.
When I pressed for a reason for this he conferred with his colleague again who became visibly angry and grunted something obviously unpleasant at the guy who turned to me and said "It just needs USB 2.0, it says so on the box".
So I asked if it was unsupported for 1.0.
He said it wasn't designed or that but it should work.
I asked him again if having a 1.0 port meant I couldn't use it.
He said yeas, they do not support USB 1.0
I was unhappy with this answer as the cornerstone of Apples advertising is "It just works". This iPod "just doesn't" and I suspect that it could quite easily work, if Apple wanted it to.
I spoke to a little huddle of Mac helpers at the front of the shop.
I told them that I now know that the iPod is designed not to work with USB 1.0, but why won't it work with FireWire.
Assistant A said it was because firewire chips are chunky and they couldn't make them slim enough.
I then asked why it couldn't do USB 1 and 2.
Assistant B said it was because these days the demands on the iPod would make USB 1 too slow to function.
I reminded her that mp3s haven't suddenly jumped in file size, and that they were the same size when I was happily using my other iPods.
She conceded that her point was invalid.
Assistant A then said it was because USB 1 was too slow, and that people didn't want to wait for it.
I told him I didn't mind waiting while it transferred.
He told me that others weren't as patient as I am.
I made the point that if you have someone who is willing to wait, why take that option away from them. If you let people wait if they want to, then only the ones who don't want to wait are unhappy. If you take the ability to use the device away entirely then EVERYONE is unhappy.
He conceded my point.
They asked me what computer I had. I told them, a G4 iMac.
Assistant B said that my computer was too old, and that I should really get a new one.
I told her that my computer worked perfectly fine, even ran roughly the latest OS. She said that four years was too long to expect an Apple computer to be compatible with a new Apple device.
I asked her why.
She said that technology moves so fast, that you can't expect it to be compatible with a computer that is four years old.
Assistant A interrupted by saying that Windows and Palm do the same thing.
I asked them where that left their "Think Different" slogan?
The reason I have bought Apple products is because they 'just work' and they are 'cool, fun things that are great to use" (Assistant B piped up with that as a sort of self-mind washing technique).
Now, Apple have arbitrarily set a limit of expiry on my hardware. There is no reason for the new iPod to not work with my iMac.
The files being shoved across are the same as my 80G Video iPod, but according to them
"The iPod touch is a totally different beast, it is mainly software based, and so" I didn't let her finish, because I told her that while all the new bits worked perfectly, and were really, really well thought out, the one, basic thing of putting music onto my iPod has been artificially taken away from me.
I had to get her to see that she was telling me that the iPod deliberately doesn't work with a G4 iMac. Because Apple COULD EASILY make it compatible, but they chose not to so that I would have to buy a new computer.
The irony is I was planning to get a new MacBook anyway, but after the way I've ben hustled into it by these almost religious Apple Robots has made me shy away from the whole thing.
They kept repeating that it says USB 2.0 on the box, which frankly is a cop out.
I'm not happy with Apple, they can have the iPod back and I'll f***iing whistle or hum songs that I like instead (because every other mp3 player out there is god awful).
Every time one of those grinning fools says "Think Different" or "it just works" I want to smash a chair over something else breakable.
Rar!!!
