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June 13, 2005
USB iPod Charging?
My laptop computer has no firewire ports, so I can't use iPod's firewire-based charging. On my most recent trip I forgot my iPod charger and was reduced to using a friend's Mac to charge my 3G iPod. But here's the surprising thing: while she can (or at least says she can) charge her iPod (a U2 edition) via USB, I can't, even when I use her cable. I see that you can buy 3rd-party iPod USB chargers. Does anyone know if these are likely to work with my iPod? It sure would be nice not to have to carry the brick around.Posted by ekr at June 13, 2005 8:27 AM | Filed under:
Comments
Not 100% sure, but I think last time I was flying, I read in SkyMall that there are USB-to-Firewire adapters designed precisely to solve this problem. I actually got a freebie at a conference recently which was one of those charge-anything-from-usb kits with a bunch of cellphone adapters and extension cables, plus some nifty things like 110-usb and car cig lighter-usb adapters. I'm 99% sure that the thing I saw in SkyMall was that plus USB-to-firewire converter. Picture at http://www.rungie.com/craig/cables.jpg -- these apparently made by a company called ZIP-LINQ, and very useful.
Posted by: Craig Hughes at June 14, 2005 1:56 PM
You can also get an iPod power cable universal adaptor plug at Radio Shack. It fits onto their otherwise unremarkable universal DC/AC adaptors. With that and 1/2 a USB cable, you can make a charger fairly trivially.
Posted by: Alan at June 21, 2005 2:30 PM