Video iPods, USB2, Firewire and older macs - a different approach

Question

I've been trolling the discussion boards here because I find myself with the same problem many others have noted here: I just bought a family member a Video iPod (5G) for Christmas, I realize they no longer support firewire, only USB2 and I only own an older eMac that has firewire but NOT USB2 and no PCI slots for USB2 cards. I await Christmas with dread when, after opening their gift, they'll want to put content on their new 5G iPod and we'll sit around all day while that happens.
I'll not get into why Apple dropped firewire from the 5G iPods.
My different approach is that what is needed is a bridge connector or hub that will bridge a USB2 cable to a firewire port.
There are a number of combo hubs but these are just 2 hubs in one with each bus (USB2 and firewire) having it's own separate connection back to the host computer. And if you connect the USB cacle back to a host with USB1, System Profiler will tell you rthat your USB2 ports areoperating at "Up to 12 Mb/sec"
Even the Universal Dock will will not get USB2 speeds out of a mac with USB1 ports. It clearly states, :...allows you to connect your iPod with the cable that came with it."
I've done a lot of searching and the closest I've come up with is this:
http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/pixela-pixuvcdu1w-firewire-to-usb-20-bridge-cabl e-016285.php
but that goes the wrong way. Plus it's expensive ($80 - $90).
It's designed to connect a firewire equiped DV camcorder to a PC that only has USB2 ports.
To me this sounds like an opportunity for some of the 3rd party vendors playing in the Apple world (Griffin Technology, Belkin, XtremeMac etc) to fill what is obviously a a major need here. Reading these forums there seem to be many many people that have older Macs without USB2 and 5G iPods.
We need a USB2 to Firewire bridge connector for all of people with older macs and 5G iPods.
Someone please help us.
Bob Jakuc

Answer 1

Thank you for your response. I mention this in my original post. In fact, I bought one of these thinking it might solve my problem. It doesn't. In effect the D-Link DFB-H7 is 2 hubs in one enclosure. To use the firewire ports you have to attach the D-Link to your computer via a firewire cable. To use the USB2 ports, you have to attach the D-Link to your computer via a USB cable. You can't have a single, unified host connection AND use all the ports on the D-Link. The USB ports on the D-Link aren't even active if you don't connect to your computer via USB.
I'm upset for two reasons: 1) the D-Link hub advertising isn't explicit about the need to have separate hub to host connections for each bus you want to use and 2) since my eMac only has USB 1.1 ports, the USB2 ports in the D-Link are 'stepped down' to USB 1.1 speeds (12 Mbps).
I'm also frustrated because I'd add a USB2 cardbus card to my eMac but it looks like the slot over the CD-ROM drive is only for Airport/Airport Extreme cards.
Does anyone have any info on that? Is the slot over the CD-ROM drive in a 1 GHz eMac a general purpose cardbus/PCMCIA type II slot or is it just for Airport cards?
Maybe I'll ask over on the discussions for the eMac.
Thanks again.
Bob
Powerbook G4 (Titanium)   Mac OS X (10.4.3)   eMac 1GHz