iPod dock connector?

Hi JB,

You mean the dock?

I mean what Apple states is "Apple Certified Refurbished iPod with Dock Connector." If you'd like to look for yourself, go to www.apple.com, click on Store, click on the red "Save" in the lower right corner.

If so, you do not need it for the proper operation of the iPod. The dock allows your iPod to stand upright on it while syncing, and it provides a line out jack to connect the iPod to HiFi stereo.

So does the iPod itself have this same line out jack built in or is the only way to connect to a stereo system through the optional dock or headphone jack?

One of the reviews for the optional dock available for the current iPods states:

The sound out of the dock output is far better than a Y cable conected to the headphone output because the dock outputs a pre-amp,"signal" output (Just like your CD or DVD player), not an headphone one. Also, the gain is fixed on the dock output (It does not depend on the volume settings of the iPod), and your amplifier will work perfectly with this kind of input signal.

True?

Hi carl,

Sometimes people get confused about which iPod is which.

I'm one of those people. Seems like there are quite a few different generations of iPods with no clear/easy way to ID them and differentiate their capabilities.

The older iPods do not have the dock connector; the newer ones do.

Good example. If you look at the refurbs I referenced above, there are "older" ones (at least not the current generation) there with docks.

If you have an iPod with a dock connector, the use of the dock itself is optional, and provides access to the LINE connector. Hooking up the iPod to speakers through the LINE connector is much better than using the headphone connector - the sound quality is much better.

That's what I was wondering. So does this mean that earlier versions have the "line connector" built in, or that they don't have them and you must use the headphone jack and get "inferior" sound when playing through a stereo setup?

I don't have an iPod (gasp!) and I'm deciding which iPod to buy, a new one, a refurb, or even an older one if there's some advantage to those, which is one of the things I'm trying to find out.

As for FW and USB, on the new models, are there both FW and USB ports built in, or must one or both of these be accessed via the optional dock?

Thanks

Thanks JB, I think I'm starting to see the light. 😉

As one of the primary uses for this iPod will be to replace my CD players/centralize my music and connect it to my stereo systems, it appears a model which uses a dock would be advisable.

For 3G iPods and later models, there are the dock connectors on them. No Firewire or USB ports on them. If you want to connect the iPod using Firewire (except the new iPod Nano) then you must use a Firewire iPod cable. Use an USB iPod cable if you want to connect to an USB port.

Ok, got it.

But another question. Do regular FW and/or USB cables work to connect the dock to a computer's FW and/or USB port?

Or do I need the same proprietary cables which can connect the iPod directly to a computer's FW and/or USB port (without going through the dock)?