iPod Crippled iPod shuffle ?!?!

[polyethyleneguy]

I just got my iPod shuffle and after plugging it in to my new Powerbook with USB 2.0, and selected autofill, it proceeded to download the music...but at a very slow speed. I have had a regular HD based iPod before and remember it transfering songs very quickly. So my question is to those out there with 1GB iPod shuffles...how long does it usually take it to fill up the entire 1GB. Is there something I'm doing wrong?
Thanks for any help!

 

[PlaceofDis]

is it downsampling from a higher bit rate perhaps? try another USB port?

 

[gwuMACaddict]

your previous iPod used FIREWIRE

much faster

don't worry, the shuffle is fine

 

[polyethyleneguy]

Firewire = 400Mbps
USB 2.0 = 480Mbps

If anything, the shuffle should be even faster...also, there are no moving parts as with a hard drive based player.
How long (1 minute, 2, 3..) does it take you guys to fill up a 1GB shuffle with nothing on it?

 

[PlaceofDis]

Firewire = 400Mbps
USB 2.0 = 480Mbps

If anything, the shuffle should be even faster...also, there are no moving parts as with a hard drive based player.
How long (1 minute, 2, 3..) does it take you guys to fill up a 1GB shuffle with nothing on it?

your numbers are right, but misleading

with Firewire the 400Mbps is a sustained rate, meaning it constantly transfers at the speed, the USB rate however is only theoretical and only reaches that speed in bursts, meaning small transfers are all that it is good for

 

[polyethyleneguy]

I didn't know that. Thanks for the info. I'm still looking for someone's estimate on how long it takes to fill a 1GB shuffle with 1GB of music...

 

[jruc4871]

I didn't know that. Thanks for the info. I'm still looking for someone's estimate on how long it takes to fill a 1GB shuffle with 1GB of music...

Nothing to worry about. I've been spoiled with Firewire for my 40GB G4. I was surprised at how long it took to transfer to my new Shuffle.

Just imagine (non-FW) windows users filling up a hard disc iPod!

 

[crazzyeddie]

How slow is very slow? It will seem slow compared to any real hard drive. All solid-state memory is very slow compared to hard drives. Just think of the flash cards you use for your digital camera.

 

[Nickygoat]

I didn't know that. Thanks for the info. I'm still looking for someone's estimate on how long it takes to fill a 1GB shuffle with 1GB of music...

My girlfriends Shuffle takes about 6-7 minutes to fill 512MB over USB2.0 from my PowerMac. My 40GB photo took about 40 mins to transfer 22GB of music and photos.
It's fine - don't worry about it.

 

[rjphoto]

It's Like Watching a Pot Boil

If you sit there waiting on it, it seems like forever.

I was trying to load 6 or 7 songs to my son's 512MB Shuffle when everyone was walking out the door Saturday. Of course it had to erase all of his stuff and load mine so it took FOREVER.

Next time find something to do.

(This was on an old USB1, too.)

 

[doctor pangloss]

I haven't used the auto fill feature on my shuffle yet. But when I transfered a 958 mb playlist it went fast(as fast as an ipod update through the firewire 400). The apple tech guy I talked to said the usb port is slightly faster than the firewire 400 port. But only very slightly.

I suspect the time consumed with the autofill is the random song selection process from your library.

 

[cazlar]

As mentioned earlier in the thread, the limiting factor here is not the USB, but instead the slow read/write speed of flash memory compared to a HDD (if you only have USB 1.1, then it may be a different story).

 

[mcarnes]

Firewire was invented by Apple in the mid-80s, believe it or not. USB 2.0 came along much later but is still inferior to FW400 (and toasted by FW800). Go figure.

I wonder, does Apple get a small cut every time another company uses firewire, like in a camera?

 

[swy32x]

Check that in the shuffle options you're not selecting "convert to 128kbs for transfer to your shuffle" as that takes foreeeever.