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parkm13

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 25, 2010
224
5
does anyone know of a place i could buy an ipod sync cable that goes through thunderbolt? if not is there any word on when apple or anyone will make them? it would make syncing soooo much faster
 
Nov 28, 2010
22,670
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No cable yet, as Apple will likely release the first one, as the iPod also need to support synching via TB.
Also the speed of the transfer is limited to the speed of the storage device in the iPod, if it is a HDD in an iPod Classic, the speed provided by USB 2.0 will suffice, as the internal HDD is already a slow HDD. If it is an iPod touch or nano or shuffle, the flash memory used in it will not be that fast, as music playback does not need fast read access, thus slower flash memory will have been used in those iPods. Again, USB 2.0 will suffice those speeds.
 

parkm13

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 25, 2010
224
5
No cable yet, as Apple will likely release the first one, as the iPod also need to support synching via TB.
Also the speed of the transfer is limited to the speed of the storage device in the iPod, if it is a HDD in an iPod Classic, the speed provided by USB 2.0 will suffice, as the internal HDD is already a slow HDD. If it is an iPod touch or nano or shuffle, the flash memory used in it will not be that fast, as music playback does not need fast read access, thus slower flash memory will have been used in those iPods. Again, USB 2.0 will suffice those speeds.

so my touch would only be a little faster with thunderbolt, not because my macbook's ssd is slowing it down but because the ipod's flash memory is too slow? did i get that right?
 
Nov 28, 2010
22,670
30
located
so my touch would only be a little faster with thunderbolt, not because my macbook's ssd is slowing it down but because the ipod's flash memory is too slow? did i get that right?

Yep. Maybe Apple will use faster flash memory once that becomes cheaper and will also use TB as synch interface. But Apple will most likely wait for this until all current Macs have TB, though they eliminated synching via Firewire (which was faster than USB 2.0) already some years ago, thus TB might be still unlikely, as they also want to sell iPods and iPhones and iPads to users of other OSs, using computers without TB, thus putting two cables into the iDevice box is against Apple's current nature, as they removed video adapters, the Firewire cables, the remotes and some other additional small hardware during the last years.
 

parkm13

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 25, 2010
224
5
yeah i cant see them including two cables. but i would be more then happy to buy one, even if it was only a small speed improvement because im sure in the next few years the speed of the flash memory will go up.
 
Nov 28, 2010
22,670
30
located
But the iPod still needs to support TB as synch interface. iPods from the last years for example can't be synched via Firewire anymore, even as the Dock connector hasn't changed.
Therefore you need to buy a TB enabled iPod once it will be supported.
Maybe have a go at http://www.apple.com/feedback
 

parkm13

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 25, 2010
224
5
well i would think that apple could add suport for it through a software update couldn't they?
 
Nov 28, 2010
22,670
30
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does it really? i dont see why it would, but im not super good with all this stuff

Firewire needs a chip on the computer and in the device, it needs to translate the communication. The same goes for Thunderbolt. USB does not really need a chip in the computer, as it goes through the CPU, thus USB is also more CPU intensive than Firewire and TB is.
 

parkm13

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 25, 2010
224
5
so then im going to need to wait until the next ipod refresh at the soonest :(
 
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