View Full Version : Just Got New iPod. Something Wrong?
Hal9000
12-20-2003, 01:31 PM
I just got an earlt Christmas present: a brand spanking new 40GB iPod. I have Windows XP with a 4-pin firewire connection on my notebook.
The problem is that when I charge it, I can't seem to get more than an hour or so out of. I have like 5000 songs and it craps out after an 1-1.5 hours of uploading song. At this rate its going to take forever to get them all in there!
Is this normal? Should I return it?
Thanks!
keep it on the charger whilst uploading music
Hal9000
12-20-2003, 02:39 PM
Originally posted by Amin
keep it on the charger whilst uploading music
How can I charge it and upload at the same time?
I have to use the same core for both and I can only do one or the other, no?
saqib
12-20-2003, 02:41 PM
try charging it via the plus adapter first to full charge then use the firewire conncetion to your pc to upload, see what happens.
Hal9000
12-20-2003, 02:46 PM
Originally posted by saqib
try charging it via the plus adapter first to full charge then use the firewire conncetion to your pc to upload, see what happens.
What's the plus adapter?
I've been using the wall plug to charge and then when its charged I upload via 4-pin firewire but it craps out in just over an hour or so.
darkfusion
12-20-2003, 03:02 PM
That's because it takes alot of battery while transferring song's. The ideal soloution is to buy a 6-Pin firewire card, then your iPod while charge from the firewire port while it's connected to your PC. Otherwise if you wanna live with the 4-Pin you'll probably have to charge the iPod, transfer the song's and then charge it again..
It shouldn't be as short as an hour though... does it actually turn itself off after an hour or just say there's no battery, because the battery meter is slightly innacurate and can sometimes show an empty battery meter even when there's 1-2 hours of battery time left.
Hal9000
12-20-2003, 03:33 PM
Originally posted by darkfusion
That's because it takes alot of battery while transferring song's. The ideal soloution is to buy a 6-Pin firewire card, then your iPod while charge from the firewire port while it's connected to your PC. Otherwise if you wanna live with the 4-Pin you'll probably have to charge the iPod, transfer the song's and then charge it again..
It shouldn't be as short as an hour though... does it actually turn itself off after an hour or just say there's no battery, because the battery meter is slightly innacurate and can sometimes show an empty battery meter even when there's 1-2 hours of battery time left.
Do they sell 6-pin Firewire PCMCIA cards?
While its tranfserring it just dies completely when the battery is dead.
nick190
12-20-2003, 03:39 PM
You have two options Hal. I'm in the same boat as you are. You could purchase a pcmcia card with two 6pin ports. Keep in mind though...they will NOT charge the ipod, the pcmcia slot does not provide enough power. You would then need to purchase an additional 6 pin firewire cable. Run one cable from the ipod to the card. Run the new cable from the card to the ac adaptor. This will charge your card and thus charge your ipod. However, if, like me you have usb 2.0 on your notebook, and a 3rd gen ipod, that you purchase the $19 cable from ipod. It is split into a usb 2.0 and a firewire cable. The usb goes to your notebook or computer, the firewire goes to the a/c adaptor. This is by far the cheaper option and makes much more sense if you have usb 2.0.
-Nick Goldman
Hal9000
12-20-2003, 03:47 PM
Originally posted by nick190
However, if, like me you have usb 2.0 on your notebook, and a 3rd gen ipod, that you purchase the $19 cable from ipod. It is split into a usb 2.0 and a firewire cable. The usb goes to your notebook or computer, the firewire goes to the a/c adaptor. This is by far the cheaper option and makes much more sense if you have usb 2.0.
I think I do have a 2.0 USB, but how can I be sure.
Thanks for the suggestion!
markp99
12-20-2003, 03:55 PM
The cable will work with USB 1.1 as well...albeit slowly...
nick190
12-20-2003, 04:02 PM
What exactly is the make/model number of your notebook?
-Nick Goldman
Umrath
12-20-2003, 04:03 PM
Here's how:
http://www.usbman.com/Guides/checking_for_usb_2.htm
nick190
12-20-2003, 04:12 PM
Nice link urmath...heckuva lot easier than explaining it over the forum.
-Nick Goldman
Hal9000
12-20-2003, 05:08 PM
I just did a check.
Uploading from a full charge lasted for 75 minutes for about 2GB of transfer.
Does it take more power to upload than to play or can I expect the same battery life when I play music back?
graffix
12-20-2003, 07:19 PM
The cable will work with USB 1.1 as well...albeit slowly...
Yeah... transfer time with USB 1.1 is measured on the geologic timescale. :D
Ewok^
12-20-2003, 08:49 PM
The power when playing will be a lot longer!
Only reason your running out of power is coz the hdd is constantly being accessed to write to it. When playing the iPod loads up your play lists to its cache and plays it from there which doenst have to spin anything and so much more battery time! :D
And i use usb 1.1, its not very fast but it doenst really matter, as you're only going to do a full update once really.. unless stuff goes wrong :)
Hal9000
12-21-2003, 12:24 PM
Sooo....does that mean playback battery life will be less if I encode my mp3's at 320 kbps rather that 128 kbps?
Ewok^
12-21-2003, 12:46 PM
correct
Hal9000
12-22-2003, 08:10 AM
Originally posted by Ewok^
correct
Well that sucks because I ripped most of my CD'd at 320 kbps so that when the original CD inevitably crapped out I would have a nice clean copy. Grrr...
kewlbert
12-23-2003, 09:26 AM
how about VBR encoded songs then? do they consume more battery than CBR? this assuming coz VBR wd need work from processor/HDD to seek out data in absence of const length fields!