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Orion27 · Feb 24, 2005, 09:13 AM

My impression is FireWire is the superior technology. Why does Apple want to dumb down the platform? I guess Steve's politics are affecting his business decisions. Just another mass consumer hack on the Mac.http://news.com.com/Apple+takes+a+st...?tag=nefd.lede

Captain Egotist · Feb 24, 2005, 10:27 AM

chabig · Feb 24, 2005, 10:32 AM

Firewire is superior, but that doesn't mean USB isn't perfectly suitable. Apple's keeps costs and prices down by leaving out the cable, that's all. The iPods still support firewire and if you want to use it you'll buy the cable.

Krypton · Feb 24, 2005, 11:37 AM

The iPod's main market is Windows users, do you see Creative and Rio with Mac/Firewire support?

Ganesha · Feb 24, 2005, 12:04 PM

Firewire still comes on all Mac Desktops, Laptops and Servers.

All Apple did was remove a Firewire cable from some of their iPods (the lower end iPod mini). Apple also took the AC adapter out of the iPod mini's package. Yet, no one is saying Apple is stepping away from AC power by not including a power adapter are they?

Remove these 2 items is why Apple can afford to sell you the same 4 GB iPod mini for $50 less.

gururafiki · Feb 24, 2005, 01:33 PM

FW 400 will make way for FW 800 within the next few years.

Leonard · Feb 24, 2005, 02:07 PM

Apple's just being stingy, they could easily include the special firewire cable. They just want to gouge us Mac users now - I mean at least if they had made a standard firewire port on the iPod it would have been okay to skip the cable, I have 4 or more standard firewire cables around. But they make it a special firewire cable. Why should us Mac users suffer just because of inferior PCs?

Krypton · Feb 24, 2005, 05:17 PM

Apple's fatal **** up was having to design a new connector for FW800 - there is a high likelihood that FW800 will never catch on and Firewire will be phased out completely.

Captain Egotist · Feb 24, 2005, 08:32 PM

Originally posted by Leonard:
Apple's just being stingy, they could easily include the special firewire cable. They just want to gouge us Mac users now - I mean at least if they had made a standard firewire port on the iPod it would have been okay to skip the cable, I have 4 or more standard firewire cables around. But they make it a special firewire cable. Why should us Mac users suffer just because of inferior PCs?

Agreed. I think that is pretty crappy. Especially since a LOT of macs don't have USB 2.0.

crooner · Feb 24, 2005, 09:22 PM

Originally posted by Leonard:
Apple's just being stingy, they could easily include the special firewire cable. They just want to gouge us Mac users now - I mean at least if they had made a standard firewire port on the iPod it would have been okay to skip the cable, I have 4 or more standard firewire cables around. But they make it a special firewire cable. Why should us Mac users suffer just because of inferior PCs?

Bingo. You nailed it. If the 'Pods had a standard six pin FireWire connection i doubt folks would be so (rightfully) pissed off about Apple's penny pinching.

t500 · Feb 24, 2005, 10:35 PM

When transfering files over, firewire is much faster that USB2. My 40GB Came with a FW and USB2 cable. Put the FW on the desktop and the USB2 on the laptop. The USB2 stransfer speed sucked so bad I went to the Apple Store and picked up a second FW cable.

Changing on USB2 also seemed to take longer.

Apple is just being stingy, and face it all recent PC's have USB2. Cheep PC's skip ou on FW...

tooki · Feb 25, 2005, 12:35 AM

Not a Power Mac discussion at all.

tooki