8 in 1 or 8 in 4 Media Readers and Writers 

With a choice of four slots and eight types most cards should be supported. Here I am looking at two such units from Belkin (8 in 1) and perhaps a lesser known company in the UK Dane-Elec (8 in 4).

Firstly if your camera has CompactFlash type 1 and 2, IBM MicroDrive, Memory Stick or Memory Stick Pro, Smart Media, Secure Digital or MultiMediaCard then one of the four slots will be able to read your images.

Both units are small, both are USB2 enabled (both will work fine with USB 1), both have four slots, both are provided with leads. In the case of the Belkin unit it is a standard USB lead such as you use with any USB product. The Dane-Elec approach is slightly different having a standard USB plug protruding from the rear of the unit, this can fit – just – in one of the low level front USB ports found on recent PC’s. However they also supply a one metre A to B extension USB lead to allow connections for other less accessible outlets.

Windows from the second edition of ‘98’ supported these devices although it was likely to only be of a single card type at that time and probably only in the camera. Just attach the unit to a USB port Windows thinks and then tells you your unit is correctly installed. So what you now get is four extra drive letters in My Computer. If these are simply letters such as ‘E’ ‘F’ ‘G’ ‘H’ you will probably need to click on several to find the correct letter. With practice – or perhaps a sticky note – you learn that ‘G’ is the one for your card.

On rare occasions I find that My Computer manages to display a useful icon below the drive letter and the CompactFlash or SecureDigital etc is easily identified. This is certainly the exception and at least 95% of the time I only get drive letters. I thought this may be a bug in Windows XP so I have tried Windows 98SE and Windows ME but the result is the same.

Both the Belkin and Dane-Elec units have small LED’s to show when a card is being accessed.

There is little to choose in the size of the units, the (blue) Dane-Elec unit is about 10cm longer than the (black and grey) Belkin unit, the Belkin unit is a little thicker, both are light and would easily fit in a pocket.

Both these USB units can transfer data up to 40 times faster than a USB 1 unit. Neither need additional power supplies as the USB lead supplies adequate power.

I can find only one mainstream card type not supported that is the tine ‘XD’ type recently adopted by Olympus and Fuji. I am told – unofficially - the reason is that a royalty is required for use of the standard in any card reader. No doubt sooner or later this will be solved or maybe either Olympus or Fuji will produce such devices themselves. I have seen a couple advertised but I when I enquired I was told currently unavailable or words to that effect.

If you use one or more of the card types above then a card reader/writer could be easier than attaching the camera to the PC. If you use ‘XD’ hold on because I feel such devices will eventually arrive.

Dane-Elec unit is £26.50 while the Belkin one is £39.99, this price is subject to discount by the retailer, as this is so new I can find no advertised prices as what most retailers are currently offering is the USB 1 model.

Link Belkin : http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Product_Id=151407

Link to Dane-Elec : http://www.dane-elec.fr/index_en.htm - type "8 in 4" in quick search then select the third item.