iPod No Firewire Support Leaves Many Mac Users Behind

[matticus008]

You are making a very big and wrong assumption here. I'm a developer that uses a 2 year old powerbook that does not have USB 2.0. Does that make me a person with no interest in keeping up with technology? I'm an early adopter of most technologies and make wise upgrade decisions. The 2003 iBook also did not have USB 2.0.

I didn't say "all" anywhere. My assumption is true. All sales of Macintosh computers since mid-2003 FAR outpace sales in 2001 and 2002. Computers older than four years are never honestly considered in any new product (software or hardware). That's with a generous Mac cycle. 2005 alone is much higher than 2004 in sales. Check out the totals.

Keeping these points in mind and the very real fact that Apple's principle sales were in laptops your point about the majority of Mac users having USB 2.0 simply has no merit to it.

Apple's portable lines didn't become the major sales force until 2004, so your point doesn't reinforce your position. The majority of computers made by Apple in the past four years have had USB 2.0. Therefore, the majority of relevant Mac users have USB 2.0. PowerMac sales were among the strongest in 2000, 2001, and 2002. These could be upgraded to USB 2.0, which only increases that majority.

Don't make generalizations about a population of users without the facts. Much of Apple's sales of desktops have been in the education market in recent years...not home sales. Therefore, you can probably make the assumption that these will not be machines connected to iPods.

Apple has historically sold many machines to educational institutions (but to say that number has increased recently would be the exact opposite of reality). They probably won't have iPods connected, you're right. This makes for an even bigger majority in the home market.

The final line is that Apple is leaving behind those users that have bought machines as recently as 2 years ago.

No, exactly two years ago all Apple computers had USB 2.0. Start going backwards from there and a few USB 1.1 computers pop up. But throughout 2003, it was obvious that USB 2.0 was being implemented, so people who chose to buy one knowing that USB 2.0 was coming are stuck with that decision or an iPod -gasp- that's now a couple weeks out of date. Or they can go ahead and buy the new iPod and wait for it. But yes, after four solid years of catering to the Firewire market and having the opportunity to buy a Firewire iPod, it's time to move on. They gave you FW far longer than a PC manufacturer would have held out against a newer standard.

I believe its technically impossible to even boot via USB 2.0. Apple cannot do anything about this. This is due to the lack of sustainable speed.

No, it's very possible to boot using a USB hard drive. Almost all PCs with onboard USB 2.0 have this ability. I haven't seen one that can't boot from USB in quite some time. And if the 10 seconds per GB makes USB inferior, then okay. But I don't see the reasoning (for iPods). I agree about the loss of bootability, but then again, that was never the intended purpose of the iPod.

 

[asherman13]

wow, lots of stuff happening. ok, i just got my ipod w.video yesterday, and i have a g3 ibook with usb 1.1. my only gripe is that, for some reason, when i connect it, it takes around 5 minutes to start updating, which took a ways over an hour (3.86GB or so; music + two movies). all i can say now, after seeing the movies, i can say one thing: the transfer wait was worth it!

now i just have to wait for me to get a new laptop

 

[Over Achiever]

I don't particularly mean to bring back this thread, but I have a question perhaps someone can answer.

Suppose I'm using my iPod for external storage space (which I actually do with my current iPod). Would I be able to run programs/stream off my iPod using USB 1.1?

Letting it take hours to update is one thing, using it as a HD is another. So is it possible to use it as both?

-OA

 

[matticus008]

I don't particularly mean to bring back this thread, but I have a question perhaps someone can answer.

Suppose I'm using my iPod for external storage space (which I actually do with my current iPod). Would I be able to run programs/stream off my iPod using USB 1.1?

Letting it take hours to update is one thing, using it as a HD is another. So is it possible to use it as both?

-OA

Yeah, you can do it. I imagine you're only running fairly small programs off the disk, so it'll be slower, but technically possible. However, if you're using it with the computer in your signature, you can get USB 2.0 for about $30 with a PC Card device. IOGear makes some good ones. Then your problems are solved altogether.

 

[Sol]

USB 1.1 external drive

Suppose I'm using my iPod for external storage space (which I actually do with my current iPod). Would I be able to run programs/stream off my iPod using USB 1.1?

Launching applications from a USB 1.1 drive would be too slow but for MP3s and AAC files it should be fine. Having said that, any media file with kbs settings higher than 1500 would stutter. That means no .DV files and MPEG2.