I believe you’re right - the first ones used FireWire, at least on the host (computer) end.
There were some Windows PCs with FireWire - but mostly via a PCI expansion card. Some laptops had it too - I think it was an option on some of Intel’s chipsets for laptop manufacturers. I certainly had a couple of ThinkPads that had FireWire, but they’re the only machines I ever owned that had it, and I never used it.
That’s not the main problem that stopped Windows users from using iPods though. The main problem was that there was no software for Windows in the box at all. I think they put out a version 1.5 which was basically the version 1 but with Windows software added which fixed that, but I definitely recall a lack of Windows software.
At the time I was using an Archos Jukebox for my MP3 needs, and I found the iPod a little comical at launch because of all of this. A colleague of mine was utterly enamoured with the iPod until he realised that he’d need to also buy a Mac to use it, putting the cost of one at about £1300 (plus desk space). Instead he went out and bought an Archos for a fraction of the price…
There exists plenty of inline USB-C to Lightning adapters. I wonder if that’s “good enough”. At least Lightning is generally more robust and capable than the previously obsoleted 30-pin “dock connector” design used on the original iPods, iPhones, and iPads.
Apple has been doing some iPads for a couple years now with USB-C so it seems logical that soon all Apple mobile devices will be USB-C.
Nothing wrong with USB-C to A… but you won’t get fast charging.
I still mourn the disappearance of Firewire from the electronics device landscape - not just because it had inbuilt timestamps, providing of deterministic video and audio delivery with low latency, not just because it used an intelligent chipset that offloaded much of the low-level tricky timing stuff so that the main processor didn’t get over-burdened managing real-time data streams, (a reason it was costlier, beyond the already onerous Sony tax) … but mainly because the architecture has the ability to function peer-to-peer. (Why, oh why can’t I plug my laptop into my tower and transfer data? Anyone remember Laplink?)
The relatively symmetric and network nature of IEEE 1394 made it possible for devices straight up communicate with each other without the intervention of a main-CPU/OS. (Cameras speaking directly to hard-drives being a capability that was deleted from the device landscape for good while). (OTG never quite lived up its promise)
USB-C/T-Bolt is the first link in a long time that enables comparable function (although through somewhat different technological routes) - and consequently resurrects the ability to effectively dethrone the centrality of the personal computer from connected devices.
