USB 1.0 and 2.0

My laptop currently only has a USB 1.0 entry, I have recently bought an external hard disk and it's running USB 2.0 and tha works fine

And I'm thinking of getting an iPod soon, so I was just wondering is it still compatible with my USB 1.0 socket?

yes, it just wont run at full speed.

12mbps vs 480mbps, so be prepared to do some waiting. Get yourself a PC card USB 2 controller if you get sick of waiting.

Would it be compatible with a laptop? How much is it roughly?

PC cards (PCMCIA) only fit in laptops.

http://www.meritline.com/ads-usb2-pcmcia-card-cardbus-adapter-usbx2001.html
http://www.ascent.co.nz/mn-product-spec.asp?pid=107992

Ah come on, don't be so pedantic. Most laptops have PC card readers built it to allow for expansion, whereas with full sized PCs you use PCI. Of course you can get adaptors to allow a full sized PC to use PC cards.

My motherboard has pc and cf card slots in the back pane

But yes its pretty pendantic