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waffffffle · Oct 12, 2004, 09:26 PM

I just made the switch today, moving my iPod over to USB instead of FireWire, when connecting to my 15" aluminum PowerBook. The reason I did it is because I often like to sit with my feet up on my desk and my PowerBook on my lap, but when I had cables attached to both sides of the PowerBook (power and USB are on the left, FireWire and USB on the right) I would start dragging my peripherals around on my desk. I found that by just using the USB cable I could keep one hub on the floor, attached to a long cable, and connect all my devices to just one USB port, which is on the same side as the power cable. This makes the cables extremely easy to manage and I only have to unplug two cables when moving my PowerBook.

This wouldn't be possible if Apple didn't start shipping PowerBooks with USB 2. I finally got myself a cheap 4-port USB 2 hub ($16 that I found on bensbargains.net) and I put my high speed devices attached directly to it: iPod, flash card reader, SoundSticks (not high speed, but latency is an issue).

So far it seems to be working well. I seem to recall having some troubles a couple months ago when I first tried to use my iPod with USB. So far I have had no issues. My one issue I think was that my music skipped when using my flash card reader.

How is the speed with the iPod on USB 2? Is FireWire still faster? Has anyone else made the switch?

SSharon · Oct 12, 2004, 10:19 PM

I have no numbers to prove what I'm saying but I think the speeds should be similar. I have always said that firewire is faster but for me with my external hard drives copying my mp3's seems to o faster with usb. Not by much, but I feel that large files are better for firewire while smaller ones are better (or equal) for USB. In any case why don't you do your on test and see which is faster for you.

wataru · Oct 13, 2004, 07:32 AM

Original Firewire has a max of 400Mbps, while USB2's max is 480Mbps. That makes it sound like USB2 is faster, but the max is not the same as the average sustained rate. On that front, Firewire is the clear winner.

GORDYmac · Oct 13, 2004, 08:55 AM

Yes. I use the FireWire cable and the AC adaptor at the office to recharge, so, I use the USB cable to sync at home. Works fine to me. Seems as fast as FireWire, no notable difference in usability at all.

drive-thru · Oct 13, 2004, 06:20 PM

Does the iPod charge through USB or just Firewire?
Doesn't make much difference for me anyway, I only have USB 1.1 and don't have a USB cable for my iPod.
I always thought that USB charging wasn't available for the iPod, but I could have just made that up. Also, I noticed the 4G iPods come with both Firewire & USB cables now. Wasn't the USB cable an extra option for 3G iPods?

GORDYmac · Oct 14, 2004, 08:55 AM

I think the newer iPods (mini & 4G) allow USB charging. My iPod charges fine via USB.

waffffffle · Oct 16, 2004, 12:23 PM

So now I'm experiencing problems. Sometimes when I unplug my iPod while playing music through my soundsticks my whole computer freezes and I need to hard reset. Apple really needs to get the bugs worked out of USB audio already. It's been more than 4 years of this garbage already. So many problems with USB audio and Apple still doesn't acknowledge them.

typoon · Oct 16, 2004, 05:21 PM

Originally posted by drive-thru:
Does the iPod charge through USB or just Firewire?
Doesn't make much difference for me anyway, I only have USB 1.1 and don't have a USB cable for my iPod.
I always thought that USB charging wasn't available for the iPod, but I could have just made that up. Also, I noticed the 4G iPods come with both Firewire & USB cables now. Wasn't the USB cable an extra option for 3G iPods?

Yes the 4G iPods and the Minis now allow for charging via USB