Whats the deal with Bluetooth and Ipods

[Biturbo V12 AMG]

Why does everyone keep talking about bluetooth with ipods. the first thing people say is ow i can transfer songs to it via bluetooth... Have you ever sent anything via bluetooth its slow it would take for ever to load a 4 gig nano i dont even want to think about how many days it would take to send 60 gigs of information, it takes about an hour to send 43mb of music to my cell phone via bluetooth. the only thing bluetooth would be go for is sending audio to a receiver but bluetooth will end up using way to much power and people will complain.

 

[Avalon]

I totally agree...
Bluetooth has a theoretic maximum of 1Mbit/s, even the new Bluetooth 2.0+EDR only has 3Mbit/s.
Now, with 8 bit being 1 Byte (and 1Mbit= 1024 kbit), we have 128kByte/s, respectively 384kB/s.
An average song in a compressed sound format (MP3, AAC etc.) has around 5MByte, or 5120kByte.
Do the math: about 40 seconds with Bluetooth, an roughly 13 seconds with Bluetooth 2.0.
And this is calculated at the theoretical maximum speed, which it will never reach.
Just to compare, USB 1.1 is 11 times faster than Bluetooth, and it is still too slow!

Connect an iPod on an older Mac that doesn't have USB 2.0 (480 times faster than plain Bluetooth!!), and copy just 1GB of music....after seeing how long that will take, you never want to try that over Bluetooth.

This would be ok to occasionnally transfer one or two songs, or a couple of pics, but don't even think about transfering a video over Bluetooth. There wouldn't be enough power left in the battery to play that video, once the transfer is done.

Adding Bluetooth to the iPod is absolutely nonsense.

 

[dan828]

I think most of the desire for bluetooth is not for transfering music but to use wireless earphones or car stereo systems. There is already at least one bluetooth add on for the iPod that works with a headset and cell phone so that you can listen wirelessly and the music will auto-pause when you get a call. There are also some high-end cars that come standard with bluetooth that you could use trasmit music to the stereo system.

But I agree that transfer of files is a bit slow to be practical. Now built in 802.11b is a different story... I have an .mp3 player that has that and it can get on a wireless network and download stuff directly from audible.com at the same speed as you can download it on to your computer. An iPod with that built in would be nice, particularly since they could set it up to d/l right from Apple's music store. Wifi is faster than most peoples broadband connections so you'd be able to download at a fast enough speed that it wouldn't be a problem.

 

[Biturbo V12 AMG]

on wireless G between 2 computers to transfer my 26 gigs of music takes forever also. wireless B rated at 11mb really only gets 3-4mbps and wireless G rated at 54mbps really only gets 26-30mbps. Firewire 800 would be nice on an ipod.

 

[mynameis]

Firewire 800 would be nice on an ipod.

The hard drives wouldn't be able to keep up, it would be worthless.

 

[Avalon]

The hard drives wouldn't be able to keep up, it would be worthless.

And also, new iPods don't even feature FW400 anymore...which in my opinion is the dumbest thing Apple has done recently.

 

[mynameis]

And also, new iPods don't even feature FW400 anymore...which in my opinion is the dumbest thing Apple has done recently.

Why? I don't think the hard drive in iPods could even max out the transfer rate of USB 2.0. I don't see a problem with catering to the bigger market, especially considering it doesn't decrease the functionality at all.

 

[Avalon]

Why? I don't think the hard drive in iPods could even max out the transfer rate of USB 2.0. I don't see a problem with catering to the bigger market, especially considering it doesn't decrease the functionality at all.

Quite simple:
1. Lots of people still have older Macs that do not have USB 2.0, but still they might want to use an iPod.
2. Some people (like myself) use their iPod not only to listening to music, but also as an external harddisk, with a rescue system to boot from.
You can't boot from a USB-only iPod.

Ok, the second point certainly is only a minor issue, but the first one is considerable. You would wonder how many old iMacs G3, iMacs G4 and eMacs are still being used, and there's no way to upgrade them to USB 2.0

Firewire has been invented by Apple, and the Firewire controller would not significantly increase the iPod's price...it is absolute nonsense why Apple did make that decision.

 

[johninc]

Bluetooth Headphones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[VastDeathmaster]

You know, I was watching somthing on the news recently about how pickpockets watch the people who are either zoned out with their cell phones or mp3 player. Sometimes, they just look for the headphone wire. A bluetooth head set would make it more difficult for them to spot a 'mark' from a distance.
If you are still zoned out, though, you are still a target.

I had the impression that Bluetooth was not really made for transferring large amounts of data but just to make certain accessories wireless (speakers for example)

 

[inflexion]

whats more annoying with the firewire and USB debate is that you can draw so much more power over FW than USB.

Thats why so many people are having battery problems with the new ipods because they dont leave them to charge and mess about with them while connected to their PC/Mac

 

[Avalon]

whats more annoying with the firewire and USB debate is that you can draw so much more power over FW than USB.

Thats why so many people are having battery problems with the new ipods because they dont leave them to charge and mess about with them while connected to their PC/Mac

Interestingly enough, you can still charge the new iPods over Firewire...just not sync or use in disk mode.

 

[aantoine90]

Quite simple:
1. Lots of people still have older Macs that do not have USB 2.0, but still they might want to use an iPod.
2. Some people (like myself) use their iPod not only to listening to music, but also as an external harddisk, with a rescue system to boot from.
You can't boot from a USB-only iPod.

Ok, the second point certainly is only a minor issue, but the first one is considerable. You would wonder how many old iMacs G3, iMacs G4 and eMacs are still being used, and there's no way to upgrade them to USB 2.0

Firewire has been invented by Apple, and the Firewire controller would not significantly increase the iPod's price...it is absolute nonsense why Apple did make that decision.


I asked an Apple Store worker this same question and she tolod me that it was because it made the iPod thinner so they decided not enough people have/know how to use FireWire so they got rid of it. It can be a good and a bad thing depending on how you look at it.

 

[Biturbo V12 AMG]

You know, I was watching somthing on the news recently about how pickpockets watch the people who are either zoned out with their cell phones or mp3 player. Sometimes, they just look for the headphone wire. A bluetooth head set would make it more difficult for them to spot a 'mark' from a distance.
If you are still zoned out, though, you are still a target.

I had the impression that Bluetooth was not really made for transferring large amounts of data but just to make certain accessories wireless (speakers for example)

Have you seen how big bluetooth headphones are? they are like the size of bose quite comfort 2's. but i will admit they will get smaller and smaller as tech advances. but if i would be mad if i couldnt listen to my ipod because my BT headset died just another thing to plug in and carry around a charger for.

 

[tdj114]

Bluetooth

I don't have much time to read through all the posts so if this has already been said, I agree and I'm just being redundant at this point.

I agree that bluetooth will be amazingly slow with transferring songs from computer to iPod. However, this will spark a movement to transition to many more ways of interfacing not on iPods but all forms of personal computer peripherals. As many of us would agree, Apple has a way of influencing the industry and revolutionizing changes in the way people use digital products. I can't help but laugh when I think of the vast amount ingenuity and brilliance that must be contained in Cupertino. With Bluetooth in iPods will come it's incorporation in nearly every concievable consumer device know to man, this will be true based on the iPods domination of the Digital Media and consumer electronics market.

~TJ
Quad 2.5Ghz PowerMac w/ 23" Cinema Display
17" PowerBook G4

 

[Meyvn]

And also, new iPods don't even feature FW400 anymore...which in my opinion is the dumbest thing Apple has done recently.

Either that or putting defective screens in their flagship notebook as a FEATURE.