The Defeat of FireWire?
FireWire feeling the heat from USB 2.0?
With the subtle omission of a bundled FireWire cable (in addition to a previously supplied USB power adapter), Apple's second-generation iPod mini and iPod photo packages are generating growing protests among Mac loyalists.
Apple's argument is that the majority of computer users have a USB 2.0 connection as opposed to having FireWire. So in order to keep costs down (Apple recently dropped the price of the 4GB mini by $50 to $199) and profit margins up, they have to omit the "extras". The irony of this is that Apple helped to develop and promote the FireWire standard and is now taking steps to reduce its importance as the preferred standard for high speed connections. What is urking a lot of Mac users also is that USB 2.0 is a relatively new bus shipping standard on only the most recent of Mac computers. If you have a Mac system that is only a couple of years old, you'll have to pay a $19 "surcharge" to take advantage of high speed transfers and battery charging. You can read additional perspectives at Cnet News here and PlayList Magazine here.
This FireWire issue hits home for me also. Being a long time fan and follower of the iPod, I finally felt it was the right time to jump in the iPod pool with the recent upgrade announcements. With Rika's birthday approaching, the mini would be the perfect gift in her preferred color of green. But since I use a HP workstation with USB 2.0 and no FireWire and Rika uses a Sawtooth PowerMac G4 with FireWire yet no USB 2.0, I felt forced to purchase a $17.50 (edu) FireWire cable. Obviously Apple shouldn't make users purchase such a basic and essential component but what are you going to do?
Well I should receive the iPod mini in about a week or so. I'm curious to know if Rika will use it for music or just for transfering files, or even use it at all. If she doesn't, I'll gladly join the masses and take it to school, work and the gym.
posted by Robert at February 26, 2005
2 Comments:
Rob, what about the PCI FireWire card I gave you a few months ago? Can't you install that on your HP? Although I do think the lack of ports to connect it to your front bezel will make plugging it in very inconvenient. Also why not add an USB 2.0 card to the Sawtooth G4?
Thank you for the FireWire card Mark. Even though I knew at the time you gave it to me that it lacked an internal pass through, it would be nice to plug devices into the built-in front port, so I might need to return it. I guess I negleted to mention that the 2nd-gen mini ships standard with a USB 2.0 cable which the HP already supports. The reason why I bought the FireWire cable is that the mini is for Rika, therefore I chose the green version (I would have chosen silver myself) with laser engraving. I considered buying a USB 2.0 card for the G4 but the cable is less expensive. ($17 compared to $35.)
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