I picked up a new 30gig iPod photo from CompUSA last weekend. I wanted to grab the 40gig with dock and firewire cable, but they were fresh out of stock, and since I was doing an extended warranty replacement of my Rio Karma (I miss it dearly! More on that later) I was restricted to choose from CompUSA’s stock. As you may know, the new iPod photos, in a cost-cutting move by Apple, only include a USB cable and no longer come with a firewire cable. I had read angry posts from Apple users, but I felt like there was no reason to really get worked up about it because Macs have USB 2.0 and there would be little difference for the user. Looks like I underestimated things.
My music library is on my Windows XP machine, so when I unpacked my iPod I set it up with Windows. Everything went smoothly and my music was loaded onto it through USB in no time. Now, I also want my iCal and Contacts information on my iPod using iSync, so I took my Windows formatted iPod over to my Powerbook and plugged it into the USB port. “Do Not Disconnect” started flashing on the screen of the iPod, but nothing happened on the Powerbook. I have mass storage enabled on the iPod, so if anything it should have showed up as a removable drive on my desktop. However, nothing happened. I launched iTunes but it froze. I was unable to Force-Quit iTunes, and even trying to reboot the computer kept prompting me to Force-Quit the frozen application. I was forced to hard-reset my laptop by holding down the power button.
I figured maybe the iPod hadn’t been formatted correctly on my Windows machine. Once my Powerbook was back up I plugged in the iPod and launched the iPod Updater application, the program that updates firmware and formats the hard drive of the iPod. The icon for iPod Updater bounced up in down in my dock for a couple of minutes, then stopped, and nothing ever launched. iPod Updater was frozen just like iTunes was earlier. Again, I hard-reset my Powerbook.
I started doing some investigation and after a few days I found some posts on the Apple Discussion Boards where other users are having the exact same problem. New iPod photos are not being recognized by Mac computers. It turns out that these users have no problem getting their iPods to work with a Firewire cable, but the USB cable will never work. Of course I can’t easily try this because I don’t have any Firewire iPod cables laying around. I suspect neither would other first-time iPod buyers.
So from what I’ve gathered, Apple is selling iPods that will work with Windows computers out of the box, but to work with a Mac computer a $30 cable must be purchased additionally. What an excellent way to alienate the people who’ve made the largest investment in your company (not only buying an iPod, but also buying your computers!). The box of the iPod also makes no mention of this problem, as it states that Mac computers require Firewire OR USB 2.0 to sync with the iPod. This tells me that this wasn’t planned by Apple, but it’s still a pretty huge problem, and I don’t see how it could have gotten out the door.
How should Apple solve this? First of all, they need to find a way to provide free Firewire cables to all recent iPod purchasers. A firmware update will not solve this issue because anyone trying to use their iPod with a Mac is unable to apply said Firmware update. Secondly, any future iPods sold should either have this problem fixed in the unit, or a Firewire cable should be included in the box with explicit explanation of the issue in the documentation.
This is a pretty gross oversight on the part of Apple, and from what I can tell this is not an isolated incident. I will be heading to my local Apple store (I’m lucky enough to have one close by) to see if I can get a Firewire cable or replacement iPod. Hopefully Apple will find a solution that will take care of it’s customers in the near future. The last thing I ever expected was to see Apple shipping a product that didn’t work with it’s own computers out of the box. If you have any experiences with this issue, whether your new iPod photo works with your Mac or not through USB, please post a comment including any actions you had to take to get it to work.
Read the update on the situation
I too have the same problem. Brand new 30G Photo iPod. When I plugged it in, an updater screen automatically popped up. I clicked on update and then the beach ball of doom started spinning. Force quitting the updater program didn’t work and I had to hard reset the computer.
If the USB cable is the reason for the frozen applications, I will be pretty pissed. It’s hard to believe that this didn’t pop up in their beta testing. Maybe all of the apple developers used the old firewire cable for all of their update testing, Ha!
“Maybe all of the apple developers used the old firewire cable for all of their update testing, Ha!”
Hehe… that’s certainly the case with all iPod users I know. Even the guy working at the Genius Bar at the Apple Store said that he had just gotten one of the new iPod photos, but he had only used his old Firewire cable with it. I’ll keep my ears open for any developments in this issue, and likewise, pleast let me know if you see any.
Not exactly the same issue: brand new iPod photo 30GB. Syncing at work with a Power Mac G5 and USB 2.0 (just to test, with a few albums and photos, I had just received the iPod at work. All excited) and no problem at all. The syncing with an old FireWire cable at home (Power Mac G4), no problem, all my music goes in there. I figure out “let’s use the FW at home and the USB at work, that way I don’t have to disconnect cables all the time”. Then again the day after, at work, the update pops up for Updater 2005-03-23, so I download and instal (I want the new transitions) and there I have an Exclamation Mark Folder!
I have to restore, it’s repaired fine.
Since I’ve lost my music for the day, I think “Hell, let’s use the storage to bring some huge files at home” and the Finder tells me it’s going to take 16 hours to transfer 10GB via USB 2.0…
Same test with another FireWire cable a colleague lends me: everything goes smoothly as usual.
I say: this USB cable is not a good idea. Probably cheaper, but:
- it leads to errors on Mac
- it misleads PC customers into thinking they can use it with USB 1 on their poor machines. AppleCare talks to them everyday.
You’re just not being smart enough. You cannot switch between a Mac and a PC. If you formatted your Ipod with your PC, you can’t just go back to a Mac and plug it in. Its that simple.
before critisizing a company, just read the manuals. It helps.
^ I appreciate your feedback, but you should really try and understand the problem before you make judgments as to whether or not I had read the manual.
It was a problem with using the USB cable. You CAN plug a Windows formatted iPod into a Mac and it will “just work”. I do it all of the time with my firewire cable now. There is a bug, either in the new iPods or a software glitch in iTunes on my Powerbook, that was messing up connectivity with the USB cable.
I read the manual, and searched the net, and talked to an Apple tech directly, and this is a problem with the software/hardware. I “read the manual”, now I suggest you ‘read my post’ before you make quick judgments.
http://www.ipodlounge.com/index.php/faqs/answers/can-i-use-my-windows-formatted-ipod-on-a-mac-computer/
^ An explanation about why that link is relevant to this post would be helpful.
I really suggest you read my whole post and the update to the situation. You’ll see that I wasn’t trying to do anything that hundreds of other people don’t do. I sync my music and Windows and iSync with my Mac. This WORKS FINE with the Firewire cable Apple gave me, but the iPod could not connect in any way with the included USB cable. This is obviously a bug in the hardware/software of the iPod or Powerbook (as I’ve already stated).