Using iPod Classic (80GB) with a Firewire dock

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Level 6

10,419 points

Using iPod Classic (80GB) with a Firewire dock

I gave my daughter a new 80GB iPod Classic to replace her 2003 era iPod 15GB, dock connector (with the 4 buttons). Her 12" PowerBook G4 doesn't have USB2, so I was wondering if it is safe to use her old Firewire docking station with the new iPod Classic? I would assume so for two reasons: 1) the dock connector is mechanically the same and 2) I have read that the iPod Classic will still charge from the Firewire power pins. Is this correct? I'd rather she not blow it up right out of the box.

MacBook Pro, PowerBook G4, ThinkPad T60, Mac OS X (10.4.11), Win XPP SP2

Posted on Sep 17, 2008 11:56 AM

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Answer 1

jayratch

Level 1

36 points

Sep 23, 2008 8:21 PM in response to Bruce Thomson

You will be able to use it to charge and output audio through the dock's out port, but that's it. It will not connect to the mac via firewire at all.

An iPod classic can be connected to USB 1.1 but it may or may not sync at all and if it does, it will be painfully, hopelessly slow. You may want to consider syncing the iPod with a different mac... you can use a Firewire hard drive or Target Disk Mode to transfer or copy her library to another machine.

On the upshot, a new aluminum Macbook is expected to hit the market in time for Christmas...

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Answer 2

Ron Voss

Level 1

74 points

Oct 7, 2008 11:48 PM in response to jayratch

Jay, I found it as you say, that my 20GB iPod Classic will not connect to my dual Intel iMac via Firewire, but connects fine via USB. Is there some Apple documentation about this? This seems contrary to the Apple table about connecting various iPods to various Macs and OS versions, which seems to say it should work. Thanks!

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