2.1 FireWire

Apart from boosting magazine sales, there's never been much value in sitting in front of the computer, waiting for large files to copy onto external drives and other add-ons. In the eternal search for faster data-transfer speeds, Apple developed a new high-speed cable called FireWire in the mid-1990s. It's easy to use, it's hot-swappable (you don't have to turn off anything before plugging or unplugging the cable), and ”unlike SCSI cables, which came before it ”it doesn't force you to go through configuration acrobatics to get multiple devices to all work properly.

Dozens of other companies, including Windows PC makers , eventually picked up FireWire. Some gave it other names along the way: IEEE 1394 (its official moniker from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, an industry standards group ) and i.LINK, used primarily by Sony. But whatever the name , it's still the same speedy connection underneath.

With its ability to move 400 megabits of data per second, FireWire was quickly adopted by a product that needs to get an enormous amount of information from Point A to Point B: the digital camcorder. Other hardware with a need for speed, like external CD burners and hard drives, followed the path to FireWire connectivity.

FireWire's speed makes possible one of the iPod's best tricks: slurping in an entire CD's worth of music from your computer in ten seconds. It's also how the iPod gets its battery charge. That's great if you have a Macintosh, because every Macintosh made since about 1998 has a FireWire connector built right in (see Figure 2-1).

Figure 2-1. Left: The FireWire icon on cables and ports signals that the computer is equipped with the high-speed standard. Right: The connectors are wider and less rectangular than those of a USB cable.

If you're a Windows PC fan, however, FireWire isn't such a sure thing. If you bought an iPod and then found out to your horror that your computer doesn't have a FireWire port, you have two alternatives.

First, you can add a FireWire card to your computer, as described later in this chapter.

Second, if you have a 2003 (or later) iPod model, you can connect your iPod via a USB cable ”a far more common PC connector. See Section 2.3 for details.

2.1.1 Connecting Your iPod by FireWire

If you have a Mac, connecting the iPod is simple: Just plug in the FireWire cable.

If you have a PC, things are slightly more complicated, because there are so many different kinds of connectors your PC might have. For example:

• FireWire connector, 6-pin . If the white FireWire cable that came with your full- size iPod fits a socket on your PC's FireWire card, great! Connect the far end to the iPod, and you're ready to rock. (As a bonus, your iPod may even get its power charge from the same cable, depending on which brand of FireWire card you have.)

• FireWire connector, 4-pin . The FireWire cable that comes with the full-size iPod has a fattish 6-pin connector at one end. It doesn't fit the smaller 4-pin connectors common on Windows FireWire cards.

  Fortunately, you also got a small white 4-pin adapter in the box. It fits over the end of the included 6-pin cable (see Figure 2-2). Just snap the adapter onto one end of the cable and plug it into the PC's port. Then plug the other end into the iPod (or its dock, if you have one).

  Figure 2-2. The FireWire cable adapter included with full-size iPods snaps over the end of the standard 6-pin FireWire cable. The smaller 4-pin end then plugs into the PC. Sony Vaio laptops are among the computers that need the 4-pin adapter. The iPod Mini doesn't include the cable adapter, but you get your choice of a whole 6-pin FireWire cable or a USB 2.0 cable to use instead.

  
  

  The iPod Mini's FireWire cable has only a 6-pin connector, and it doesn't come with the adapter. You can buy one from a computer store ”or you can just use USB 2.0 instead.

NOTE

Don't forget to connect the AC adapter. You can't charge an iPod from a 4-pin connector.