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Shuffle and USB 1

wPod

wPod

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 19, 2003
1,654
0
Denver, CO
So here I am contemplaiting the purchase of an iPod Shuffle. My current 10GB 1st gen iPod is showing its age and having a few difficulties. Non of the current iPods are drasticly different (I still want a super cool function like wireless before I buy a new one). But the Shuffle seems like it might fill a void until A) my current iPod fails or B) a wireless iPod comes out (hooks to the airport express!!!!) Until then the Shuffle would work well and the shuffle playlist sounds cool. But, will it work with USB 1 that I have on my Rev A 12" PB?!!?! Yes, I know USB 2 is backwords compatible so it should technically work, but will it take forever and a day to load 1GB of music over USB 1?
 
wPod said:
...
Yes, I know USB 2 is backwords compatible so it should technically work, but will it take forever and a day to load 1GB of music over USB 1?
Click to expand...
If I did the math correctly, it will probably be about two and a half hours for USB 1.1. That is presuming not much else is going on on that USB bus.

EIDT: On the other paw, it looks like I slipped a digit. Call it a half hour max to load it.
 
wPod said:
...I still want a super cool function like wireless before I buy a new one...... a wireless iPod comes out (hooks to the airport express!!!!)...
Click to expand...

If you've got a laptop with AirPort wouldn't it be better to stream from there?

The 'killer App or Apps' you're after would then be a BlueTooth iTunes controller and/or (and this is what I'm waiting for) iPod with BlueTooth 2 and wireless headphones. As I have neither PhotoShop or creative talent I'll describe the set-up iPod as now, over-head DJ style headphones with batteries on one side counterbalanced with a small round remote controlBT unit on the other side that you can unclip to change tracks volume etc. (this would double as the iTunes controller) Another feature would be that you could pair the 'phones with your BT phone and pause the iPod for incoming calls.
 
Bear said:
If I did the math correctly, it will probably be about two and a half hours for USB 1.1. That is presuming not much else is going on on that USB bus.
Click to expand...

1GB = 1 billion bytes = 8 billion bits (8 000 000 000 bits).
USB 1.1 = maximum transfer rate of 12Mbits/second (12 000 000).
8 000 000 000 / 12 000 000 = 667 seconds ~ 11 minutes?

Unless I made an error with those mega/giga numbers...

Of course, that's the maximum rate, so I'd guess from 15 to 25 minutes for real usage.
 
Yvan256 said:
1GB = 1 billion bytes = 8 billion bits (8 000 000 000 bits).
USB 1.1 = maximum transfer rate of 12Mbits/second (12 000 000).
8 000 000 000 / 12 000 000 = 667 seconds ~ 11 minutes?

Unless I made an error with those mega/giga numbers...

Of course, that's the maximum rate, so I'd guess from 15 to 25 minutes for real usage.
Click to expand...
Nah, I think I slipped a digit. Call it a half hour max.
 
PlaceofDis said:
USB 1.1 will be able to charge the iPod shuffle then as well? this was my concern
Click to expand...

i kinda assumed USB 1 would charge it. it has power, doesnt it?!?!

mpw said:
If you've got a laptop with AirPort wouldn't it be better to stream from there?
Click to expand...

yeah, i love streaming from my PB, but i hate passing my PB around a party to let friends chose the next song.(not to mention beer is horrible to clean off a keyboard. . . trust me) id much rather just pass around an iPod. and no, the iTrip has crappy sound quality so it is no good. the biggest downside would be having a constant wifi stream from an iPod would suck the battery. bluetooth would be cool though, id totally go for bluetooth ear buds from apple. show your style with a small white bud in your ear instead of all the white strings flopping all over yourself!
 
wPod said:
i kinda assumed USB 1 would charge it. it has power, doesnt it?!?!
Click to expand...

i just wasnt sure if 1.1 provided enough power to charge it, thats all, i assumed that it would be able to, but you can never be sure about this stuff either
 
Good to hear. As a G4 iMac owner with only USB 1.1 (original 800mhz model) I was concerned about the compatibility of the shuffle with my Mac. I really want to pick one up, it just seems like it could serve a different purpose than a regular iPod, and almost work as an accessory to my original 5GB iPod. Oh well, thanks for the good news!
 
I guess it won't charge as well from a USB hub like the keyboard. So you'll probably have to charge it in the back of an iMac.

The reason they have USB on it and not FireWire, is because the Flash-memory won't transfer as fast as FireWire. Nor will it transfer as fast as USB 2.0. There are a lot of USB 1.0 memory sticks where speed is limited by the Flash-memory and not the USB-port, so I don't think you'll see much difference in speed using a 1.0 or 2.0 port.

My .02
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
Actually, it won't charge AT ALL from a low-power USB port like the ones on the Apple Keyboard, according to Apple at least. The same restriction applies regardless of what USB version you have (1.0, 1.1, 2.0).
Click to expand...

Any idea how to determine the power of my "hub"? Is it low-power or high-power? I can I tell? Certainly not by just looking at it.
 
dejo said:
Any idea how to determine the power of my "hub"? Is it low-power or high-power? I can I tell? Certainly not by just looking at it.
Click to expand...
It's easy to tell. The difference between low-power hubs and high-power hubs is a direct connection to AC power. If the hub gets all of its power through the computer (or other hub) it's connected to, it's a low-power hub. If it has (and requires the use of) a plug connecting the hub to a source of AC power, and thus can provide power to devices that require it, it's a high-power hub. High-power devices require high-power USB ports. Low-power devices can use either type. The iPod shuffle is considered a high-power device for charging purposes.
 
so, what has been concluded is that it will work with USB 1 as long as it is plugged directly into a computer (not the keyboard) or is plugged into a powered USB hub. BUT it may take up to half an hour to load all of the songs. I'm not sure if i like that. It doesnt matter over night, i can plug it in to charge all night and it can dl songs then. but if i have to run to class in 10 min and want new songs to listen to on the way there i may be out of luck :-/ ill give it some more thought, it seems like it may be a while until the shuffle is easily availble to purchase anyway.
 
PlaceofDis said:
i just wasnt sure if 1.1 provided enough power to charge it, thats all, i assumed that it would be able to, but you can never be sure about this stuff either
Click to expand...

It will.

And BTW, you guys are using USB 1.1 not 1.0, because 1.0 has a rate of 5 Mbps, compared to 1.1's 11 Mbps. Just some random knowledge... 1.0 was used very little. A few Dells might have it. I think. Not sure even on that.
 
Mechcozmo said:
It will.

And BTW, you guys are using USB 1.1 not 1.0, because 1.0 has a rate of 5 Mbps, compared to 1.1's 11 Mbps. Just some random knowledge... 1.0 was used very little. A few Dells might have it. I think. Not sure even on that.
Click to expand...


Yeah 1.0 had a very short life span before 1.1 came out.

But to answer the oringal question it should work and it should charge it because my sister ipod mini work just fine off the computer 1.1. Yes windows complained about it saying that USB 2.0 would be faster but the computer is around 5 years old so there is a reason it only has 1.1. 2.0 had not come out yet. But it did charge it and move the files over to it. It really did not take to long to put 5 cds worth of stuff on it.
 
Timelessblur said:
But to answer the oringal question it should work and it should charge it because my sister ipod mini work just fine off the computer 1.1. Yes windows complained about it saying that USB 2.0 would be faster but the computer is around 5 years old so there is a reason it only has 1.1. 2.0 had not come out yet. But it did charge it and move the files over to it. It really did not take to long to put 5 cds worth of stuff on it.
Click to expand...

Oh, right, the question.

Yes it will, no it won't be painfully slow. Enough to make you not want to sync it every 20 minutes, but once you get your initial sync done just don't completely wipe the thing at once and dump new music on there.
 
Yes, generally it seems that USB 1.1 works fine with my new shuffle. I tested it with my older G4 iMac and the flash drive mounted just fine (though I made the mistake of opening iTunes, which immediately seemed to delete any songs on my shuffle that weren't also in my iMac's much smaller iTunes library).

But... when I plugged the shuffle back into my Powerbook (USB 2) to re-autofill the songs that disappeared, I somehow triggered a Kernel Panic (fun!). After the reboot, the Powerbook recognized the shuffle as a flash drive (the documents I was storing on it were all fine), but iTunes insisted that the iPod connected to it was unrecognizable and that I needed to restore it from an iPod software update (FYI: the iPod software updates will tell you a shuffle is not supported by the update).

The panic (my personal panic, this time) only lasted about ten minutes. I simply reformatted the shuffle (to MS-DOS file format, like it was originally) in Disk Utility. iTunes not just immediately recognized the blank drive as a shuffle, but as my shuffle. It immediately synced up as if nothing had ever happened.

No problems since. ;)
 
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