I was under the belief that the newest iPods were USB 2.0 compaitable, I think you just need to buy the cable for it.

The I5100 has one 4-pin firewire port, so you would need to get a different cord than supplied with your iPod. For the same price, however, you can get a PCMCIA 6-pin Firewire port and use the cord that comes with your iPod. The extra two pins in the 6-pin firewire port versus the 4-pin firewire port are there to charge any devices that can be charged through firewire. However, I have heard that not all PCMCIA firewire cards charge the iPod.

My suggestion to you is to just get the PCMCIA card and use the cord supplied with the iPod.

What extras do you speak of?

The newer Ipods come with a 6 wire to 4 wire ADAPTOR for its firewire connection. They also have a USB docking option for windows.

I bought the 20 gig Ipod the other week. What a pain setting the thing up. Do not buy anything less than the 20 gig model. If you buy the 10 gig model, by the time you get all of the "extras" you need, it costs the same as the 20 gig, but you are still stuck with 10 less gig. Take your computer to an apple store if one is near you, that is what I did and it saved me a lot of time. I have a Dell inspiron 8100 with a fire wall and it worked with the adapter that came with the Ipod. You can buy a $20 cord to use the USB 2.0 port (which my older dell does not have). After an hour I was able to set up the computer. Nice machine, but I have to use the Music Match software which I am not crazy about when I use the suffle program. Hope this helps.

 

 

yeah... what other extras? i asked in the apple board and the guy said this is the only extra thing i need:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/70104/wo/ee4nDeXZLrnv298xf5k1eiuzZ4d/6.7.0.5.3.15.33.9.0

The other extras are the dock, some software, and maybe an adapter.

20Gb & 40 Gb G3 (3rd Generation) iPods come with a docking station, leather pouch (careful it scratches the metal iPod surface) and a headphone extender/remote.

I only use the dock (which is a neccessity) but for the minimal increase in price its worth it. The iPods do come with a small (1 inch) 6 - 4 pin converter (included in the price).

You can't charge with a 4 pin firewire port or USB (any version). You can charge using a 6 pin firewire port.

The iPod comes with a normal AC Adapter (UK) which uses the same cable (very clever) as the firewire cable.

Its a beautiful device, but the games and the rest of the rubbish aren't that great. Oh and the headphones are good, but the quality of the cables isn't great (actual cables not the sound quality)

I also have the dock, but it's not actually a necessity... you *can* just use the cables. Of course, it's much more convenient to not have to plug anything in, and I got the 15GB because of the reasons that GraemeW cited.

Also, the Apple Store link above is broken, so I'm not sure what you were told you'd need, but everything you need should come in the box. True, if you want to use USB, you'll have to buy a USB cable, but since you have firewire, and the iPod comes with an adapter to hook up to your firewire port, why not just use that?

Check out this site - it's the best one I found for iPods, and they have a great forum where you can ask questions, with many helpful regulars:

http://www.ipodlounge.com/forums/

Do what I did, and just get a iRiver iHP-120, LOT MORE FEATURES, for same price, and if you buy from Amazon UK its like $250 ;)

Sorry I should have said that the dock isn't a neccessity that was a personal statement. iPodLounge is great for all things iPod and they have a really up-to-date news section with all the latest news! Check out the forums www.ipodlounge.com/forums the users are really friendly and supportive.

Actually, I was steering away from the docking station because I don't want it because that would just mean added clutter on my already badly cluttered desk. The only thing I see I would need is a case, and I don't mind spending around $20 if I can save $80 on extra space I don't need.

the 10gb model only does not include the dock and wired remote. I has everything else the other ones have. I have a 15gb model back when they first came out. It comes with an adaptor from 6 pin to the 4 pin firewire on your 5100. I used this for awhile but the problem is that the ipod cannot charge through the port, and it cannot be plugged into a wall outlet at the same time as the computer and writing to the hdd eats up the battery like no other. It is usb2.0 compatible but the usb2.0 is sold seperatly. But with the usb connection it can be connected to the computer and wall outlet at the same time so you don't waste battery life. I have the usb cord and it works great. I also recommend if you get it to download itunes as it is much better and faster than music match. And if you do use music match you must use the music match supplied by apple, and remove any other verisons on your machine such as the one dell supplies with all new units.

If you don't have space then don't buy it, but lying your iPod down on a surface could well result in it becoming scratched. The post above is incorrect the 20Gb+ versions don't just have the remote and dock they also have the apple standard case. The case isn't great as the apple logo/tag is badly placed and will either scratch your metal surface or the screen(if you frequently remove the iPod, quite common since you can't access the controls otherwise).

Check out www.lajo.biz for cases, he (Lajo) makes and sells iSkins which are silicon (not rubber) covers which slide over your iPod and protect it.

You can also connect your iPod through a USB port. It says that a USB 2.0 (present on most Dells) is required, but my laptop has USB 1.1 and it will give you the error message "High Speed USB Device connected to NON-High Speed USB Port" but trust me, the downlod speed it still blazing.