“Close inspection of the [Apple iPod shuffle’s] USB plug reveals that there is something going on here… A normal USB plug has 4 contacts (5 counting the shield), but this one seems to have 5 extra,” Chipmunk International reports on a page they have posted that shows an iPod shuffle’s dissection. “There seems so be a secret extra something built into the iPod shuffle that can interface via the extra contacts hidden in the USB plug… This iPod shuffle is brand new and has not been plugged into anything since leaving the factory. Yet the middle of the 5 extra contacts has clearly been used. So whatever it is, the manufacturer is using the middle pin in the factory.”
Full article, with images here.
MacDailyNews Take: Calling all USB experts plug design experts! Any ideas and/or explanations?
[Attribution: iPoditude.com]
for charging, maybe? i have no idea.
Very interesting Mr. Bond
After checking my USB inputs (female connectors) none of them have a middle pin that would connect to this mysterious fifth pin in the shuffle anyway. Maybe it’s for a Grifin iLCDScreen, or some mysterious connection yet to be reveiled.
I know, I know!!!! Steve has inserted a secret harware/spyware that will call Apple everytime you plug in the shuffle and tell him what you have been listening to and how many time the shuffle has been jolted, allowing him to tell if you have been doing the horizontal bop while listening to your fav tunes, thus allowing Apple to target the appropriate market for the new (and yet unannounced) iPod iNteruptus. The new device will play your favorite love tunes throughout the deed until the point of, well, climax, then it will shuffle to a Dave Matthews tune and you will immediately loose the urge. Brilliant!!!!
iSteve for Surgeon General.
Magic word = “planning”, get it?
It’s audio feeds for analog audio out. For dockable speakers. Known info.
The fifth pin is probably a testing interface to an LCD to check the unit prior to shipping. The others are for possible 3rd party divices yet to be produced (iRadio, memory expansion, vehicle ports, etc)…
They were placed there by order of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. No one knows what they’re for.
I think the extra contacts allow my shuffle to take pictures of me while I am on the toilet.
It’s a reproductive contact; these devices are so hip that they are capable of engaging in sex. No Ballmer, don’t….
MW: “boys.”
You could put yer weeeed in there.
“You could put yer weeeed in there”
I remebmer that line from SNL…
That’s funny!
I would really like it if these were outputs, either digital or analog. I would love for a car audio company to put out a head unit that lets you easily pop/eject an iPod shuffle right into the dash. You can currently use the shuffle via RF or miniplug, but these cables are larger than the shuffle itself.
Alpine, Aiwa…AC Delco?
I don’t have a shuffle yet and so am not sure how it all works. Can you normally play music thru the USB like you can thru the dock connector in an iPod? If that is not a function yet maybe they are planning on having it so you could like just plug it into your car stereo and charge and play at the same time. No car stereos have this kind of connector yet but Apple could be anticipating.
Yer weeeed could go in there.
“Yer weeeed could go in there.”
That’s funny…
That is the line I remebmer from snl!
We had them here at the base for years.
Perhaps it is to go get a life.
All your extra USB connectors are belong to us.
whats SNL?
apple does not manufacture its products.
it used a chip from a company that makes the chips for other uses. company a uses parts 1,2,4; company b uses 2,3,5, apples uses part 1.
there are no secret or hidden uses for it.
At a guess, SNL = Saturday Night Live
SNL = Saturday Night Live
DIAGNOSTICS
TEST POINTS
FUTURE FEATURES
Alien probes
Jb
It’s to make MDN go crazy with rumors, speculation, and anger once we find out it has no meaningful purpose for the consumer.
We’ll soon hear chants and sign petitions demanding Apple give us access to “The Fifth Pin”. Apple will offer us iPod FireWire cables that everybody wants, but nobody uses in exchange to keep us quiet from exposing the Conspiracy.
“We’ll soon hear chants and sign petitions demanding Apple give us access to ‘The Fifth Pin’.”
LOL
Xtreme mac has an FM transmitter that plugs into the bottom of the iPod Shuffle. Maybe the extra contacts on the USB are to allow audio output to such accessories
My guess is any or all of the following:
Audio out – for dockable speakers as someone already pointed out
Power out – to power addon accessories
i/o interface – input/output for addons (LCD screens, input devices, etc.
—
magic word: own. “I don’t own an iPod Shuffle, maybe one day I will…”
The fifth pin of the apocalypse
Armaggedon outa here!
The extra pins are for the car audio interface.
Steve did specifically mention exciting developments in car audio and a Shuffle holds a lot more tracks than most CD auto changers do. It’s cheap enough to leave in your car too.
Plug it into the special socket on the fascia, but see the track names on the radio display and control it via the steering column remote.
……… Well it might be true !
If this takes off it would be cool to have T-shirts that say something like:
“I have used the fifth pin” or “I KNOW what the fifth pin is for” or “What is the fifth pin for?”
You would really have to be an insider to know what is is about. Right now we could have something like:
“Cmd-opt-esc > Ctl-alt-del”