Firewire is SO much better and SO much faster...so how long is it going to take to update songs? FOR (4) - EVERRRRRRRRRRR........they chould have at least madea port for firewire on the dock or something....or did they???
It doesn't make an ounce of difference given the drive speed is slower than what either USB 2 or Firewire actually achieve. This is just Apple cutting costs. When the iPod was originally released it was marketed only for macs, which only had firewire. These days the major market is windows and new macs have USB 2 anyway, time to cut cost and cut Firewire.
I love Firewire but supporting both is more expensive than just USB 2.
Apple is forgetting early model customers who had Firewire but only USB1...
THIS is the issue.
Firewire vs. USB 2 speeds are not the issue here. they are comparable and the iPod isn't something you'll be using as a primary hard drive, anyways.
Anyhow, back to the point, one great thing about Apple computers is their continued relevence and usefulness even at the low-end. USB 2 isn't even in 2-year old iBooks, and firewire is available in some macs since the late 1990s. It sucks to see Apple making some users' computers feel long in the tooth when it is absolutely unnecessary.
That really depends, Usb2 has bigger burst speed, so in burst situations Usb2 is faster, FireWire is capable to make independent transactions, so in longer run FW starts to turn the table to it's advance. So in applications where you need to transfer big chunks of data, like capturing video firewire shines. But in iPod situation it shouldn't make any difference what cable you use. As telomar said the drive is the limiting part here.
My fuckin PowerBook from only a year ago only has USB 1.
BAD MOVE.
They should have either not done this, or give up on FireWire 100%. Just call it off. This basically means it's going down the tubes, just as it could have taken off, with FW 800.
apparently the firewire cable can be purchased separately for $19. lame. lame. lame!!!! argh!!! give us a motherF#R#*()$ choice when we buy it!
edit: i thought of what the WORST part of this actually is...it is when someone like my dad decides to get an iPod for his iLamp and goes home and it takes 12 hours to download songs onto it. My dad has no idea and will just think this is how it goes...he spent $1650 on a new computer just 2.5 year ago, after all.
The other key issue for OS X is that USB devices are not bootable. (some other OS can boot USB, but not OS X)
FW can be used as a boot volume (though regular use isn't recommended as it can wear out iPod's drive - get an external FW drive if you want it as a primary partition -, it is valuable as a portable emergency volume and extends iPod utility... up til this year's models)
Removal of FW support from the latest iPods is a step back in features IMHO. Booo.
I wonder if a third party will make a Firewire->USB 2 adapter. I have a smart hub that converts USB 2 to Firewire, it would be slick if I had a Firewire-only device but didn't have Firewire ports.
Comments
Firewire is SO much better and SO much faster...so how long is it going to take to update songs? FOR (4) - EVERRRRRRRRRRR........they chould have at least madea port for firewire on the dock or something....or did they???
Is it a big deal or is it minor?
Originally posted by johnsocal
How much slower is usb2 compared to firewire?
Is it a big deal or is it minor?
The FireWire included with earlier iPods was FireWire 400. USB 2.0 is 480.
Originally posted by Gene Clean
The FireWire included with earlier iPods was FireWire 400. USB 2.0 is 480.
True, but that's only the max theoretical data rate. I believe in practice, FireWire is still faster.
Originally posted by Ra
True, but that's only the max theoretical data rate. I believe in practice, FireWire is still faster.
You are correct.
I love Firewire but supporting both is more expensive than just USB 2.
Originally posted by drumsticks
Apple is forgetting early model customers who had Firewire but only USB1...
THIS is the issue.
Firewire vs. USB 2 speeds are not the issue here. they are comparable and the iPod isn't something you'll be using as a primary hard drive, anyways.
Anyhow, back to the point, one great thing about Apple computers is their continued relevence and usefulness even at the low-end. USB 2 isn't even in 2-year old iBooks, and firewire is available in some macs since the late 1990s. It sucks to see Apple making some users' computers feel long in the tooth when it is absolutely unnecessary.
At least, I assume an adapter is available?
BAD MOVE.
They should have either not done this, or give up on FireWire 100%. Just call it off. This basically means it's going down the tubes, just as it could have taken off, with FW 800.
edit: i thought of what the WORST part of this actually is...it is when someone like my dad decides to get an iPod for his iLamp and goes home and it takes 12 hours to download songs onto it. My dad has no idea and will just think this is how it goes...he spent $1650 on a new computer just 2.5 year ago, after all.
Originally posted by O-Mac
So does anyone have some realtime stats on whether or not usb2 is as fast as firewire?
http://www.digit-life.com/articles/usb20vsfirewire/ FW is nearly twice as fast sustained.
The other key issue for OS X is that USB devices are not bootable. (some other OS can boot USB, but not OS X)
FW can be used as a boot volume (though regular use isn't recommended as it can wear out iPod's drive - get an external FW drive if you want it as a primary partition -, it is valuable as a portable emergency volume and extends iPod utility... up til this year's models)
Removal of FW support from the latest iPods is a step back in features IMHO. Booo.
Originally posted by progmac
apparently the firewire cable can be purchased separately for $19.
You can use the cable to charge, but not to sync apparently.
Well, maybe the next versions of iPods will go back to firewire...
How much longer does it take to download 1 song via usb2 vs firewire?
Originally posted by Aquatic
My fuckin PowerBook from only a year ago only has USB 1.
How can that be? I bought my 12" PowerBook in March '04 and it has USB 2.0... I thought they were all standard back then.