iPod with slot-loading iMac 350mhz G3

tvc15 · October 28, 2003 3:22PM

Is it possible to use USB with aforementioned iMac /w Panther to transfer music onto an iPod with the USB 2.0 cable? My goofy pc buddies tell me that USB 2.0 is backwards compatible with USB 1.0 and that it should work. Considering their platform of choice, I take what they say with a grain of salt.

Anyone tried this?

Brian

tvc15 · October 28, 2003 6:01PM

Yeah, you're right about it being slow. The iMac/iPod setup (if it works) will be for my wife. She doesn't want to depend on my PowerBook and me for her music. Despite being slower than Firewire, I think that the transfer speed will be fine. It can't be any slower than throwing mp3's on an external USB zip disk.

I'm sure that someone has tried this somwhere.

Brian

nebagakid · October 28, 2003 6:22PM

1.1 MB/s i think is the speed of USB 1, compared to the 400MB/s of FireWire...you do the math, it takes about 10 seconds for a CD (they say).... over an hour, 66.66666666666667 minutes do transfer a CD, at that same rate...

reid · December 3, 2003 1:44PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tvc15

Anyone tried this?

Nobody's got an answer? My sister wants an iPod, but she has an original Tangerine iBook. But according to the iPod manual, you need a Mac with built-in FireWire. Millions of early iBooks and iMacs don't have FireWire, so it would be nice if iTunes for Mac supported the USB cable available for the iPod.

Could this be a case of forced obsolescence? The iPod is backwards compatible with any five-year-old Windows PC, but not an iMac or iBook from 2000. That just ain't right.

applenut · December 3, 2003 3:03PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Nebagakid

1.1 MB/s i think is the speed of USB 1, compared to the 400MB/s of FireWire...you do the math, it takes about 10 seconds for a CD (they say).... over an hour, 66.66666666666667 minutes do transfer a CD, at that same rate...

errr....USB is 12mb/sec and Firewire is 400mb/sec, Firewire is NOT 400MB/sec

reid · December 3, 2003 3:56PM

Quote:

Originally posted by applenut

errr....USB is 12mb/sec and Firewire is 400mb/sec, Firewire is NOT 400MB/sec

Yeah, it's way slower. And a 300MHz iBook is way slower than a Dual 2GHz Power Mac G5. But iTunes 4 runs just fine on both. Considering that the iPod has the right connectors available, and that there are presumably some Windows users willing to suffer the slow transfer speeds (which, if my math is correct, is really more like 5.55 minutes per CD), why wouldn't Apple allow its use with every possible Mac?

idunno · December 4, 2003 8:29PM

Maybe I missed something... but why? I have the same iMac as you have listed, bought in 2000, and it comes with a firewire port... so why would you want to use a USB connection?

\

reid · December 4, 2003 9:16PM

Quote:

Originally posted by les t

Maybe I missed something... but why? I have the same iMac as you have listed, bought in 2000, and it comes with a firewire port... so why would you want to use a USB connection?\

One bare-bones slot-loading model of 350 MHz iMac didn't have FireWire. Nor did the first few models of iBook.

idunno · December 4, 2003 10:14PM

Okay, cool. My ancient iMac at least has 2 firewire ports.

Les

reid · December 4, 2003 10:34PM

Quote:

Originally posted by les t

Okay, cool. My ancient iMac at least has 2 firewire ports.

Yep, that beats my Bondi!

macmedia · December 5, 2003 10:06AM

You can't sync the iPod to the older iMacs. The USB thingee only works on PeeCees (info from the the Chicago Apple Store).

For my daughter with an iPod in hand that really sucks.

I'd like to sell the old iMac but don't think that I would get much for it :-(

Chas

hom · December 6, 2003 7:23PM

Yup, I can confirm that USB iPodding only works with PC's. Actually the iPod will show up in the Finder and have an iPod icon, but iTunes will not recognize it. So you want to open the hidden folders on the ipod and drag the music over.

alberto · December 6, 2003 7:48PM

hi, has anyone tried to install VPC in a Mac without firewire ports? then install itunes 4 for windows and try to sync via the windows iTunes? a lot of pain but maybe it works... anyway you hace to be running XP in that Mac and THAT will be very slow too

reid · December 6, 2003 11:41PM

Quote:

Originally posted by HOM

Yup, I can confirm that USB iPodding only works with PC's. Actually the iPod will show up in the Finder and have an iPod icon, but iTunes will not recognize it. So you want to open the hidden folders on the ipod and drag the music over.

It mounts to the desktop but still doesn't show up in iTunes!? There's just no excuse for that. So that means that the Apple's iPod is just about the only USB MP3 player you can buy that will not work with Apple's iTunes on Apple's older USB-only Macs. Friggin ridiculous.

scavanger · December 7, 2003 4:04PM

Yea its pretty dumb. If it'll mount, they should just make it work with iTunes... no real reason not to.

reid · May 26, 2004 4:38PM

Sorry to dredge up an old topic, but with the release of the 10.3.4 update today, there may be news... According to the Software Update notes, the OS now supports USB 2.0 as a connection for iPods to Macs in iTunes and iSync.

Just wondering if anybody has tried, or has the equipment with which to try, hooking up a 3G iPod or iPod mini to an older USB 1.1-only Mac (like the early iMacs and iBooks). Maybe this is the update we've been waiting for?

xool · May 31, 2004 2:22PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Reid

Sorry to dredge up an old topic, but with the release of the 10.3.4 update today, there may be news... According to the Software Update notes, the OS now supports USB 2.0 as a connection for iPods to Macs in iTunes and iSync.

Just wondering if anybody has tried, or has the equipment with which to try, hooking up a 3G iPod or iPod mini to an older USB 1.1-only Mac (like the early iMacs and iBooks). Maybe this is the update we've been waiting for?

I was just going to post the same thing. Unless the iPod uses some USB 2.0 specific feature, it may very well work with USB 1.0, albeit at very slow speeds.

Matter of fact, lemme try it now. I'll connect my iPod Mini to my Ti using the USB cable. Will post back shortly...

xool · May 31, 2004 2:39PM

Ok, so everything I tried worked.

I plugged my iPod Mini (v1.1 firmware) in to my rev A Ti 500 (OS X 10.3.4 & iTunes 4.5) using the provided USB-Dock cable connected through one of my Ti's USB 1.1 ports.

The iPod mounted correctly in iTunes and the Finder. The battery indicator displayed that the battery was charging, although it was essentially full when I plugged it in. All normal status indicators were shown. I ejected the iPod and it dismounted and displayed the ok to disconnect screen.

Running of USB 1 took a longer time to mount the drive. Then again, this is a 500 MHz G4 versus the Dual 2.0 Ghz G5 I'm used too. I didn't try copying data files or music via iTunes (My iPod is set to sync playlists with iTunes on my G5) but I bet it would work, just at USB 1 speeds.

I also have a Rio 500 USB MP3 player with 192 MB of Ram. It takes some time to copy 20 songs or so... I'd hate to see how long it would take to fill my Mini, let alone a standard iPod.

Anyhow, if you have older iPod posts your results. This could very well be a solution for users with older systems. Also, we still don't know if it will work with USB 1 under Windows.

reid · June 1, 2004 12:12AM

Thanks! This is very good news for all those Mac users out there with iPod lust, who just can't afford to upgrade their computers. I'm really shocked it took so long for Apple to enable this. I suppose they've continued to keep it under the radar, considering it will be painfully slow to sync all that music over the USB 1.1 connection. But a slow sync is better than no sync, like Mom always used to say!

iPod with slot-loading iMac 350mhz G3

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