I found my old 4th generation iPod (classic). It was one of the last ones that supported FireWire transfers. The sync speed is so amazingly fast. I just transferred 570 songs (4GB worth) in 6 minutes.
By comparison, my iPod touch takes 40 minutes to transfer a few albums over USB to flash memory. So, in conclusion, Apple hasn't cared enough to improve on 7 year old technology. In fact, they have chosen to worsen it.
I miss the old/cool Apple--back when they cared about performance....