Hands-on with Sima's Hitch USB transfer device

The iPod-heads over at iLounge have just gotten their hands on that Hitch device from Sima for iPod-to-iPod and other on-the-go USB file transfers. They seemed to like what they see, noting that the interface is about as easy to use as it could be, and the Linux-based kernel seemed plenty stable and capable. According to Sima's own numbers, the USB 2.0 unit can transfer a 4MB song in 6 seconds, which should be fine for most transfers, but could get tiring for major file swapping sessions. The main limitation that iLounge spotted is that the device will only work with PC-formatted iPods, which might pose a problem for some users, especially those with older units, but shouldn't be much of a deal breaker for most. Check the read link for plenty of hot file-transfer action shots.

[cycomachead @ Jul 12th 2006 4:33PM]

looks sweeeeet but $150 for the price- hmm
Would be a nice way to backup photos, buy I might as well buy 3 1gig SD card for the price

[Jamie @ Jul 12th 2006 4:48PM]

'those with older iPods'...

Those with older iPods will onlu have FireWire connections, not USB, making this device useless for anything older than the 3rd gen iPods anyway, which were caoable of being Windows formatted...

[Jeff Foster @ Jul 12th 2006 4:57PM]

now if only those were 802.11b

:)

[Jeff Foster @ Jul 12th 2006 5:00PM]

woah... the REAL story here is that someone actually bought the U2 iPod.

:P

[scott @ Jul 12th 2006 5:49PM]

2 questions:

1) does the file transfer send songs to your ipod library, making the new songs instantly playable on your ipod, or does it transfer them and put them in a folder in disk mode, requiring you to upload the songs on to your computer/itunes and then load on the ipod? i'm assuming it's the former.

2) assuming that it sends files directly into your library, can the hitch be hooked up to an ipod on one end and computer on the other end, doing essentially a drag and drop on to the ipod, bypassing itunes altogether?

[jotux @ Jul 12th 2006 6:40PM]

think geek had this years ago

http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/icopulate.shtml

:-X

[Suntiger @ Jul 12th 2006 7:25PM]

Jotux: That was an April Fool's Day joke... read it carefully.

[insert_name_here @ Jul 12th 2006 8:37PM]

Apple should make iPods so they can do it naturally. Then, it would work without a Hitch.

Du dum chee. (Sorry...)

[Xiath @ Jul 13th 2006 4:11PM]

@ Scott
I don't think you could hook it up directly with your computer but you can hook it up with a flashdrive according to Sima, and if that's the case most likely an external harddrive as well.