iPod V: Where is the data port?

zo · October 16, 2005 7:09PM

Uuuh... Where the hell is the data port to where we can connect radio transmitters, lasers, mics, remotes, etc?

Old Data Port (blurry)

New iPod... no data port!!

and most importantly, a remote control!?!? I ALWAYS have my iPod tucked away and controlling it with the remote.

WTF is Apple doing? No Firewire? No data port? Is this Apple trying to screw over 3rd party accessory manufacturers and have them all use the Dock Connector or something?

shetline · October 16, 2005 8:05PM

Wow... hadn't noticed that was missing.

I can imagine a lot of people with iTrips and the like having a rude surprise when they go to plug in an old favorite accessory into a new iPod and find out there's no place it can be plugged in.

craigmcshanensonson · October 16, 2005 8:12PM

I have never had an IPOD of any sort(have the 30gb white one on order), but I, too, am concerned about this. I will be interested to see how apple compensates for its exclusion.

g_warren · October 17, 2005 4:40AM

Quote:

Originally posted by CraigMcShanensonson

I have never had an IPOD of any sort(have the 30gb white one on order), but I, too, am concerned about this. I will be interested to see how apple compensates for its exclusion.

Give it a month or two, and everything will fit the bottom connection. This means that it will work with the nano as well, so actually means an easier to understand range of accessories.

aquatic · October 17, 2005 11:25AM

Classic Apple, always changing the shape of their ports! Arg. Bad bad. I mean decide on something and stick with it. I can't believe Apple is still doing stuff like this. Fo example when the ADC port came out I couldn't seriously believe it for a while. I was like no way they are serious with that idea, it sure won't last. If they aren't going to have FireWire on the iPod, it will hurt FirewWire in general. And this is a battle I think they should have picked. FW can do things USB simply can not. Like boot.

project2501 · October 17, 2005 4:25PM

Umm, actually you can boot from usb as well, you just need bios that supports it. Second data port just raises production costs, so it had to go. Belkin already has new itrip ready.

brussell · October 20, 2005 12:05PM

That little remote is very useful, and there appears to be no alternative right now. Same with the nano. It's not clear to me how it would work either. The bottom dock port probably doesn't have sound output, so you'd need two cables, one for the remote and one for the headphones. Yuck.

audiopollution · October 20, 2005 12:29PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BRussell

That little remote is very useful, and there appears to be no alternative right now. Same with the nano. It's not clear to me how it would work either. The bottom dock port probably doesn't have sound output, so you'd need two cables, one for the remote and one for the headphones. Yuck.

The dock connector must have sound output, in order for the Universal Dock to connect to your stereo.

zo · October 20, 2005 12:41PM

the dock connector does have audio..

Car adapters, docks, the Bose speaker, etc etc.. they all connect via dock connector...

I can imagine the reasoning though...

probably 25cents saved for the wiring/soldering/electronics

probably saved 30 seconds of time of manufacturing

x % saved on manufacturing process (more streamlined)

less probability of something going wrong (less stuff)

less power consumed

multiply that by y millions of units....

yeah... the bean counters had their say on this one...

brussell · October 20, 2005 12:56PM

Oh yeah. So the bottom dock port should be where it's at. Are there any existing alternatives available right now?

bancho · October 20, 2005 1:05PM

The original remote for the 1st and 2nd gen iPods only used the headphone jack (my wife has one and uses it constantly on her 2G iPod). I wonder if it would work with the 5G iPods now.

dfwkootz · October 23, 2005 2:05PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bancho

The original remote for the 1st and 2nd gen iPods only used the headphone jack (my wife has one and uses it constantly on her 2G iPod). I wonder if it would work with the 5G iPods now.

Nope, it won't work because they changed the headphone jack. The extra hole next to the headphone jack is gone. I really wanted to buy a video ipod, but with no remote and no firewire there is no way I can use it. I have a powerbook G4 that only has USB 1.1 so no more ipods for me...

hkbaq · October 23, 2005 2:29PM

don't you guys realize they did this cause they just incremented the dock royalty to 10%....there for forcing eveybody to actually get rid of old acccesories and buy new ones....and get the 10% licncing fee of this billion dollar accesorie market.....

business wise i thin it is brilliant...to the consuemr it's bad,.....but at the same time, expect new and exciting products to come from that......

project2501 · October 23, 2005 5:21PM

Well, hopefully they then support also more technical data transfers as well, for example outputting trackdata while playing. It would be great if iTrip send track data as RDS. or with bluetooth dongle you could pause it when you got telephone call, just few ideas.

bancho · October 23, 2005 10:49PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dfwkootz

Nope, it won't work because they changed the headphone jack. The extra hole next to the headphone jack is gone. I really wanted to buy a video ipod, but with no remote and no firewire there is no way I can use it. I have a powerbook G4 that only has USB 1.1 so no more ipods for me...

The first and second gen iPods *did not have* the hole next to the headphone jack (it was only present in the third and fourth gen iPods). They had remotes that worked fine. That was the point of my original post.

jonnyboy · October 25, 2005 12:47AM

i think we're supposed to use the new apple remote with the 5g ipod, no?

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...plm=MA128G%2FA

iPod V: Where is the data port?

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