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Apple drops FireWire from video iPod

By Jason D. O'Grady | October 14, 2005, 4:30am PDT

Summary

I am simply shocked and amazed that Apple has abandoned FireWire on the just-announced fifth generation iPods with video. I understand why there’s no FireWire on the iPod shuffle (no port) and even why it’s off the nano (tiny form-factor, lower cost) but why in blazes did Apple leave FireWire off the new video iPod?

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Jason D. O'Grady

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

David Morgenstern

Biography

David Morgenstern

David Morgenstern

David Morgenstern has covered the Mac market and other technology segments for 20 years. In the recent past, he founded Ziff-Davis' Storage Supersite, served as news editor for Ziff Davis Internet and held several executive editorial positions at eWEEK. In the 1990s, David was editor of Ziff Davis' award-winning MacWEEK news publication as well as its successor title, eMediaWEEKly, which focused on multiplatform professional content creation. His byline can be found online and in print publications including CreativePro.com, Peachpit Press' Mac Bible and Popular Photography.

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apple_firewire_logo.gifI am simply shocked and amazed that Apple has abandoned FireWire on the just-announced fifth generation iPods with video. I understand why there’s no FireWire on the iPod shuffle (no port) and even why it’s off the nano (tiny form-factor, lower cost) but why in blazes did Apple leave FireWire off the new video iPod?

Don’t believe me? Take a close look at the iPod specs page and their Autosync page - there’s no mention of FireWire anywhere, just USB 2.0. Apple has even gone to the trouble of demoting their FireWire Web page from a top level page (www.apple.com/firewire/) to a page buried on their developer Web site under device drivers (developer.apple.com/devicedrivers/firewire/index.html) on or around October 12th, according to Google’s cache.

Apple invented FireWire as "one of the fastest peripheral standards ever developed" and won Emmy and Grammy awards for the technology’s impact on the television and music industries. It’s inexcusable to leave FireWire off an iPod that you’re supposed to sync videos to, it just doesn’t make sense.

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Jason D. O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

Disclosure

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:

  • Amazon Associates
  • Google Adsense
  • Tekserve
  • Weaknees

Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations. Jason also provides consulting services for AirTight Networks.

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

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Talkback Most Recent of 25 Talkback(s)

  • The answer is obvious
    I am a Mac user and don't mind the new iPod is USB 2.0 only. The reason why is because I own a newer Mac. Apple wants to sell computers too. See lots of long time Mac users have extremely old equipment. But regardless how old, firewire has always been there. Now some will be able to bypass this by installing a PCI card with USB 2.0 but hopefully some will make the jump. As for Windows computers, most don't have firewire, especially the new ones. Therefore people have to buy Firewire cards. This is big upgrade for many people who don't use it and will seem like a lot to have to buy a card, an iPod and music. Now you'll say but they used to be able to do both. Sure and they also used to be bigger. Adding that compatibility adds more chips inside the iPod. We all like thinner iPods. The Apple we see today is far more smarter than before. They finally found a way to grow interest in Windows users. Coming out with new models of computers isn't enough. The iPod is a great bridge over to an Apple computer.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    drgnflyz
    10/14/2005 06:16 AM
  • fireware has LOST the peripherial interconnect race
    go ahead and box it and bury it. whether or not it's faster or "better" that usb 2.0 is moot at this point.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Valis Keogh
    10/14/2005 06:58 AM
  • Which is a shame
    It's always sad to see a superior technology forced out of the
    market by one company flexing the power of their marketshare.
    One wonders if this is part of the deal with Intel, dumping Firewire,
    as Intel owns most of the USB patents. I'd rather see things go the
    other way, and have Apple license Firewire to Intel for free or very
    cheaply, but I'm betting that Intel would have been too wary of any
    technology they didn't own/control.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    tic swayback
    10/14/2005 07:06 AM
  • Apple FireWire
    Apple went USB 2.0 on the last iPod update. I believe you can still use your original FireWire cable or buy one as an accessory (which is what is a rip-off for those of us who don't have a recent generation Mac that has USB 2.0). Both the FireWire and USB 2.0 cables have the same iPod dock connector at the other end of the cable.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    jeffstra_z
    10/14/2005 07:57 AM
  • I don't think this is true for the new video iPods
    ---Apple went USB 2.0 on the last iPod update. I believe you can
    still use your original FireWire cable or buy one as an accessory---

    Yes, I bought a 60Gb iPod from the last round and an accessory
    firewire cable which works great. But from everything I've read, the
    new iPods have dropped firewire connectivity altogether, so you
    can't use this sort of cable with them. It's USB or nothing, at least
    as far as I know.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    tic swayback
    10/14/2005 08:34 AM
  • Moving from FW a mistake!
    Most video pros recognize FW as the only way to go. USB has a much slower sustained rate which is critical to video. This is not a killer step but it is one in the wrong direction.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Reverend MacFellow
    10/14/2005 08:02 AM
  • Firewire = Beta
    As you all know consumers decide what becomes a standard or, what joins Beta tapes in the big pile of perfectly good or better but rejected technology.
    Anyone in this industry should be able to recognize when a technology is not being adopted by most mainstream technology providers. Apple is just releasing the technology that more people are using. Simple marketing. The author should know that!
    ZDNet Gravatar
    danieldcn
    10/14/2005 08:36 AM
  • The Beta vs VHS analogy is flawed
    The Beta vs VHS analogy is flawed because one of the *main* reasons Beta lost was because it had a shorter time limit that prevented it from holding a full-length movie in many cases. Rental houses did not like the idea that they often had to stock two beta tapes for a movie, vs one for VHS.

    Go look it up.

    If you start taking a deep look at all the "innovations" in IT then you see that Apple really did not invent too much of what is in today's technology. Real innovation is in things like wireless etc, not wired technology. There are MANY other wired standards that are very good, but for some reason people think Apple is so innovative because they have ONE of those.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Qbt
    10/14/2005 08:48 AM
  • True, but....
    Apple fully adopts the better technologies sometimes years earlier than their competetors hence the innovation. Consumers on the Peecee side don't use FW as much because on their boxes it is an extra. Intell pressured manufacturers to keep FW out and add more USB. Many hence did not even know what they were missing, that sir is not consumer choice.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Reverend MacFellow
    10/14/2005 12:20 PM
  • Beta versus VHS
    While Betamax was a superior video product, as I remember the way things happening, the VHS camp paid to purchase far more titles than Sony ever did, thereby providing both a cheaper technology with a broader selection base. I may be wrong, but since I had BOTH machines, the selection thing was paramount to me.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    pmcquown@...
    08/20/2006 02:46 PM
  • Lots of reasons for this...
    As someone pointed out already, it

    1) forces mac users to upgrade. Apple knows you are not going
    to switch to pathetic windows system!

    2) Intel Macs will NOT BOOT from Firewire, only from USB II
    drives! Do not buy a Firewire only drive, it won't boot a future
    Intel Mac.

    Also, in response to the last poster, Apple (working with Lucent)
    had a LOT more to do with today's wireless standards than did
    ANY PC company. Look it up. Apple was first with both
    802.11a and 802.11g.
    The PCs were using 802.11a. That was a loser.

    Firewire 400 is better than USB II, but only on a Mac, and only on
    a PPC mac. I think it must have to do with endian difference
    between CPUs.

    A lot of our current Mac changes are to set up Intel move. Intel
    move is going to put Apple firmly in the driver's seat. M$ is
    scared, big time. They know they can't even begin to compete
    on software. Apple will soon offer the whole enchilada, and PC
    users will have no irrational reason why NOT to try a Mac.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    bpick_z
    10/14/2005 11:31 AM
  • Rational?
    there has never been a rational reason to buy a peecee over a Mac.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Reverend MacFellow
    10/14/2005 12:23 PM
  • The all mighty dollor bill!
    Jason, we now have a first hand visual of greed and the desire for
    power from a person that accuses the record companies of the very
    same sin. The masses are reduced to mediocrity and second hand
    technology for the desires of a greater consumer segment. Firewire
    400 is superior in every way to USB 2.0 in every test ever created or
    devised. Thanks, but no thanks. Jobs, please remove the plank in
    your eye before commenting about the speck in others.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Robert Morrow
    10/14/2005 09:27 PM
  • Spelling is Key
    Sorry for the oversight on the spelling of dollar. Anger clouds the
    mind.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Robert Morrow
    10/14/2005 09:30 PM
  • Vintage PCs without firewire
    Since when have PCs NOT had firewire? Every PC I've set up for
    colleagues in the last two years has had firewire as standard.
    Okay, so they've mosly been laptops, but many of them have
    been budget laptops, the kind you'd buy for your kid to throw
    against the wall when Windows crashes. Sony calls IEEE1394
    iLink, perhaps that's what's been confusing you?

    So yeah, dropping firewire is very puzzling, seeing as the
    forthcoming Intel-based Mac laptops will more than likely have
    firewire 400 at the budget end, and firewire 400+800 on pro
    machines. But don't you see? It's a hint of their plans for the
    future:

    Apple will force the market to USB2 for iConsumer, USB2 +
    Firewire 800 for Pro.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    somedudehere
    10/15/2005 04:15 AM
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