First off, many thanks to Belkin for supplying this
Card Reader
These days a lot of people have Digital Cameras, often with 4mb or 8mb of memory builtin. This is not enough for higher quality pictures
as they tend to take up a lot of space. Digital Camera makers came up with the clever idea to use a "memory card" to save extra files to.
Brilliant !
Many Digital Cameras also started to have USB interfaces for high speed transfer of pictures as Digital Camera technology developed.
What happens if you have more than one camera ? You just have two USB sockets used. What happens if you have 10 digital cameras ?
You need one hell of a lot of USB sockets, thats what :)
The answer comes in the form of a card reader. You just have these handy little devices plugged in to a single USB port and you can
just swap and change the memory cards from your digital camera(s) as you need to. Also a handy side usage - you can store normal
data files on memory cards too !
Isn't it pretty ? heh
And unpackaged for your viewing pleasure
This particular card reader has a housing the same as the Belkin stackable devices, so you can easily have a little tower of Belkin devices
all tidily stacked in one place on your desk instead of cluttering all over the place.
Opening the package, Belkin provides a quick start manual with installation instructions, a software / driver cd, a cool looking clear USB
A to B cable for the card reader and the card reader itself.
Package contents
The usage of this device is dead simple. First place it somewhere on your desk. Install it following the instructions, first installing drivers
as necessary and then plug the USB cable in.
Second, locate your memory card; in this case its a 64mb Compact Flash card, however this card reader also supports Smart Media memory (Note : under
Windows XP there is only support for Compact Flash at time of writing; please check the Belkin site for driver updates / news).
The slots for both Smart Media and Compact Flash
64mb Compact Flash card
Finally insert the Compact Flash card !
64mb Compact Flash card
When you plug the USB cable in, Windows will automatically assign a drive letter to it and you can access it just like any other drive in your system.
Well there you have it, small, stylish and efficient, the Belkin Smart Media / Compact Flash card reader :)
I was very impressed with this card reader and I recommend it to anyone looking for a no-fuss efficient method of reading memory cards on your
pc !
Don't have Compact Flash or Smart Media ? Not a problem :) There are other readers in the range
that support the common memory card products.
Conclusions
PROS
- Neat all-in-one package
- Simple to use
- Stylish
CONS
- At time of writing, support under Windows XP is a bit limited
Well, I hope that gave you an interesting insight into this fine Belkin product, if you want to dicuss anything, please
Visit Our Forums !!
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