How can I connect via FW

So does this mean I'm In the same boat with my system. I was try to figure out which usb I had, but it looks like I have the same system. I was going to scrape for one for my daughter for Christmas, If I spend the money and can't use it ....
can't find clean enough words to type. How disappointing!!!

If I spend the money and can't use it ....

You will still be able to use the iPod. Even a new one that you purchase. Your iMac has USB 1.1, but that will work just fine with the new iPods. It will just take longer to transfer each song/video to the device.

It
will just take longer to transfer each song/video to
the device.

You're not kidding. I have an iMac G4 which also only has USB 1.1 and Firewire. I was tempted to upgrade to a iPod video, but now I know it's just an expensive paperweight in my case I won't bother.
It already takes 45 minutes to update my wife's nano with 4Gb. I have 36Gb of Music on my current iPod - I don't fancy waiting the best part of 8 hours for my iPod to initially copy?
I think Apple have pretty much alienated quite a few of their customers in this move - talk about pandering to the PC users!

"I don't fancy waiting the best part of 8 hours for my iPod to initially copy?"

Why not do it while you sleep?

I say that a boycott or more complaints on the new 5G ipod video will grab the atttention of Apple and force it to re-impliment the firewire back in the ipod if not add firewire 800 support to the ipod.

I say you learn to live without Firewire on the 5G iPod.
It's gone, and it's not likely to come back.
No amount of boycotting, complaining, lobbying, petition signing, etc. is going to change that.

If Apple decides to include Firewire in a future model iPod, so be it. Until that day, you're stuck with USB on the 5G iPod.
Speculation about future Apple products is not permitted in these discussions as per the Terms of Use which you agreed to when you signed up to post here.

You can learn to live without it but can not, I live almost from paycheck to paycheck so I can not afford to buy a new computer every time to just to use to next generation ipod, I have been waiting for this video ipod since the year 2000. I have been using my 2g ipod since then and it had firewire compatability , when they went to the dock connector they keep firewire, why not this one. Many external HD use firewire to have a consitant data transfer rate, all I want is an ipod that will last me about 3 years before replacement. All and any speculation I put together by doing research on the ipod technology and using common sence to see were the next step might lead. Maybe it might help to see what the customers wants in future products from Apple. Otherwise keep you opinions to yourself Mr. Fleming. And remember the old saving "the customer is always right."

I will however comply with the one part of the rules and retract the boycott statement.

And remember the old saving "the customer is always right."

This is such a load of baloney. You feel like because you "can't live without firewire" and you can't afford to buy a bew computer (which you certainly don't need to) that gives you the right to declare that you are correct?

Maybe the majority of customers wanted a slimmer design. Maybe the astronomical percentage of Windows iPod users had no need for firewire since most PCs don't have it. Maybe those are the "customers that are right".

Whatever the reason, you can't simply state that because previous iPods had firewire this would somehow entitle you to have it in all future iPods as well.

As for keeping my opinions to myself, so be it. I agree this is not the forum for a flame war, so I'll end my postings in this thread once and for all.

Why not do it while you sleep?

My point here is that all ipods up until the nano were Firewire 400. That meant that syncing was mega fast.

Now those who don't have the (inferior to firewire) USB2 option have to use USB1.1 - which is a massive backwards step. Those people who have older macs won't buy a new iPod because they'll research this and know (from looking in here) it's a bad idea.

I was a switcher to mac a couple of years back and I love it, but if this is what Apple's regularly going to do to it's customers (just think - it's not just me with my iMac who's suffering - those with powerbooks or ibooks without USB2 which is most up until recently) then loyalty goes out the window. I was going to buy a new powerbook in the spring - I think that's not going to happen now.

So essentially Apple have forgotten about or purposely cut off those customers who have older machines for sake of pandering to the windows customers. That's OK - we know where we stand when it comes to replacing the mac.... Windows Media Centre Edition does look rather nice..... 🙂

I don't mind be wrong, but I'm still very confused. Apple decided to move to USB2 for iPods. They must have done a lot of thinking about that, knowing that only VERY recent Macs support USB2.

So they have made their decision, fine - but don't they see the opportunity to either;
1) design a apple USB2 PCI and/or PCMCIA cards, or
2) testing existing PCI and/or PCMIA cards and telling us which ones will work (if any), or
3) getting Belkin or whomever to do 1) above for them.

Although I'm tempted to just get a PCI USB2 card and give it a go, the financial loss is just too big if it doesn't work.

Firewire was not just used to tranfer data on the older Ipods, it also allowed you to install a mac os onto your ipod and then boot from it.

I too bought the g5 expecting to be able to use a firewire connection.

Not happy!

Correct me if I'm wrong, all the comments about Apple wanting to make the 5G ipod thinner and slimmer. Doing away with the firewire setup doesn't make it any slimmer if it can be connected thru dock type connection on the bottom. My older ipod did this, I plugged in the firewire cable and got the "does not support firewire message" Why not ? Its there, why not use it for firewire config. What a waste,

Correct me if I'm wrong

I'm sorry if this comes off sounding rude, but your question of "Why not?" has been answered dozens of times...several within this thread.
The 5th Gen iPod lacks a firewire CONTROLLER. The dock connector is just that... a connector. Firewire connectivity comes from a hardware controller which is lacking in the 5th Gen iPods. Yes, removing a firewire controller form the internals of the iPod DOES make it slimmer. However, the reduction in physical size was probably not the sole reason for eliminating firewire connectivity. It was most likely a decision that APple made based on several factors.
Read through this entire thread, and the dozens of other Firewire related threads and you will find the information you are looking for.

Not taken rudely, thanks for the info. I didn't know the controller in the discussion was actually hardware inside the ipod itself. It now makes sense, will now look into an usb upgrade on my daughters PB12.