Is the FIREWIRE DEAD!

as anyone heard about why it will not work?
Apple, for their own reasons which we cannot discuss here, has decided to remove the firewire controller from the 5th Gen iPods and the iPod Nano.
The lack of firewire controller hardware in the iPod itself is what makes firewire syncing impossible.

Are they going to develop a patch to have it work?
A patch would be pointless. This is not a software issue, or a bug. The iPod lacks firewire hardware.

Is the firewire dead?
For the iPods... probably. Firewire is still widely used for other peripherals such as external hard drives, video cameras, etc.
The technology is not dead by any means.

"My iPod hard drive when bad 15 days after warranty expired."

The iPod with video hasn't been available for a year yet and that is how long the warranty is valid.

I'm not sure I understand how yours can be outside of warranty :-/

Says right on the outside of the box, "Requires USB".

Same situation here. My 3rd gen iPod hard drive died last week. My first idea was to buy a new one but... the lack of firewire has made me decide to buy a new hard drive here http://www.ipodmods.com
and I save $200!

I just got the new 60GB video ipod as a gift. I am an owner of the FIRST gen. ipod, which seemed to work just fine with only firewire. I am seriously ******. How is it that the last 3 generations of the ipod were compatible with both firewire and USB, but now they decide to settle for the slower (though not much) connection? Saving $? Well, in the process they've alienated their loyal Mac users, such as myself. I have a G4 mirror tower running 10.2.8, so I have to go spend $35 on a USB 2.0 PCI card, and $120 upgrading to 10.4 so I can use the video function, all because Apple wants to sell more to Windows users. This really *****. I understand technological development, but it should at least be compatible with machines that are only 2 years old. What the **** else can I do?

This seems ridiculous! If they can make the iPods compatible with BOTH Mac and windows, how hard is it to be compatible with BOTH USB and firewire? Plus, if they're gonna go with only one interface, why go with the slower one? This seems a lot less like progress than a ploy to appease more windows users by alienating their loyal mac users. I can't use the video function because I run 10.2.8, and I can't do ANYTHING until I buy a USB 2.0 PCI card. Apple needs to learn to be as loyal to their users as their users are to them.