# How slow is the USB transfer rate? --(iPod Shuffle)



## trentcanuck (Aug 8, 2003)

I'm used to firewire, so this may be a clued-out question...

I thought the point of firewire and USB 2.0 was because USB 1 was dreadfully slow.
Is that true?
How long is it going to take to sync up a iPod Shuffle through a regular USB port?


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

Depends on how many songs you have.. and the size of the transfer (MB-wise).. I know from experience, however, that transferring any large amounts of data through a USB 1.1 connection is dreadfully slow.


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## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

trentcanuck said:


> I'm used to firewire, so this may be a clued-out question...
> 
> I thought the point of firewire and USB 2.0 was because USB 1 was dreadfully slow.
> Is that true?
> How long is it going to take to sync up a iPod Shuffle through a regular USB port?


USB 1.1 speeds are similar to 10BaseT Ethernet, if that helps. Should be usable, if slow, for 512M or 1G iPods.


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## floater_ (Sep 27, 2004)

i'm pretty sure the ipod shuffle supports usb 2.0


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## jonmon (Feb 15, 2002)

1.1 it's pretty slow, but the capacity of the shuffles are relatively low, so the time shouldn't be too bad

darn my ibook's slow usb
ipod shuffle firewire version ? ahh


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## Sonal (Oct 2, 2003)

Google: knows all, tells all.

http://www.usb.org/info/usb_nomenclature

Summary:
The USB 2.0 spec supports 3 data transfer rates to be as backwards compatible as possible: 1.5 Mb/s, 12 Mb/s, and 480 Mb/s. Laptops and Desktops fully support this spec. 

Peripheral devices, however, don't always support the fastest data rate to be more cost-effective. Don't know about the Shuffle specifically, but usb.org indicates that flash card readers are typically either 12 or 480. (My guess is that the Shuffle is 12, but that's just a guess.)

Hope that helps.


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## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

floater_ said:


> i'm pretty sure the ipod shuffle supports usb 2.0


It definitely does; I'm pretty sure the OP's question was driven by his/her lack of a computer with USB 2.0.


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## RicktheChemist (Jul 18, 2001)

.


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## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

USB 1.1 is 12 Mbps, which tops out around a meg a minute, give or take, in real world situations.


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## Pelao (Oct 2, 2003)

I f you have ever used one of those flash memory sticks to transfer data you'll know USB 2 is plenty fast.

Of course, that's another nice thing about the iPod Shuffle: it can be used as a flash storage device. So let's say you are in the market for a flash drive. For about $90-100 more than the drive alone you can get a 1GB iPod Shuffle. Carry data around and listen to music. Neat.


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## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

PosterBoy said:


> USB 1.1 is 12 Mbps, which tops out around a meg a minute, give or take, in real world situations.


I hope you mean a meg a <i>second</i> (12 megabits = 1.5 megabyte). Works out to 17 minutes for a gig, or about 11-12 minutes if you could get the full 12 Mbps.


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## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

iMatt said:


> I hope you mean a meg a _second_


 Ooops! Yes, I meant 1 meg per second.


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