memory card readers

I got my FotoShow at OfficeDepot in the summer of 2002 for a trip to Scotland just before the device was discontinued by Iomega. (See some of the pictures on Webshots under username legonut2k.) I took about 128MB worth of pictures per day on SmartMedia memory, and every evening copied them to zip disk in the car (using the cigaratte lighter adapter). This used one zip disk for every two days of the trip. I came home with a box of zip disks and 2GB of photos. There were zero problems, the device worked as advertised every day. Put in the disk and memory card, then push a button and wait for the light to turn on steady green saying it is done without errors. It took about 5-10 minutes to copy 128MB, so it is no speed demon, but that wasn't a problem. Back home, I hooked it up to the computer with USB and copied the disks. I also hooked it up to the TV and ran a slideshow, but this was fairly slow (it must build a catalog of thumbnails before running it the first time which takes a very long time). The drive feels a bit bulkier than it should be, but it was worth it's weight in gold and did manage to fit into my suitcase with ease.

I have never found another device capable of replacing this for my next trip, so this summer (2004) it will go back in my suitcase with that same stack of zip disks for another two weeks of photos. My new video camera takes stills with SD type memory cards, so I am going to buy an SD/Compact Flash adapter which looks like it will work (I haven't tried it yet though).

Positives: Unique and indispensible at making a couple memory cards last for weeks far from a computer. Worked reliably.

Negatives: A bit bulky. Not very fast (painfully slow to setup a slideshow). Doesn't connect to European televisions (NTSC format but not PAL).

Puzzle: Why hasn't anybody produced an updated version of this, lighter weight, faster, more storage? One button copying of a memory card without a PC can't be that hard to do. Somebody give me this functionality in an IPOD formfactor!