Pick a Card Reader--For Any Card
New storage devices can read flash memory cards in an array of flash media formats
By Alan Stafford
From the February 2002 issue of PC World magazine

(PC World) -- Jan. 11, 2002 -- Digital cameras, video camcorders, voice recorders, PDAs, and MP3 players all use one of several types of tiny flash memory cards for storage. USB-connected card readers ease the process of transferring data from these memory cards to your computer--but until recently, none of these devices worked with more than one or two card types. Now, however, two new readers, from Addonics and SCM Microsystems, deal out slots that work with several types of cards.

Both Addonics' Pocket DigiDrive ($89) and SCM's Dazzle 6 in 1 Reader ($70) are designed to read CompactFlash, Memory Stick, MicroDrive, MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital, and SmartMedia media. Both cost more than card readers that accept only one or two types; SanDisk's single-media ImageMate reader, for example, costs $30.

The Pocket DigiDrive provides four separate slots in a case that's slightly smaller than two stacked CD jewel boxes; the Dazzle 6 in 1, with only two slots, comes in a sleeker case about half that size: It's more portable, but a bit less stable when resting on top of a desktop PC. Neither requires external power.

Drivers and Icons

If you run Windows Me or XP, you won't need a driver for either device. That's because those operating systems already have USB Mass Storage support; on Win Me and Win XP, each slot shows up in My Computer as a generic removable media drive. Windows 98 SE and 2000 users, however, must install drivers. When you install Addonics' driver, the My Computer icons for the DigiDrive's four slots identify the media type--such as Memory Stick. The Dazzle's slots show up as two generic drives (so you can have only two types of media mounted at one time).

My shipping DigiDrive and preproduction Dazzle transferred data dependably and quickly. Though the DigiDrive is USB 2.0A-compliant, according to Addonics, it's still a USB 1.1 device; you can plug it in to a USB 2.0 port, but you won't get any increase in transfer speed by using a USB 2.0A-enabled system.

Call this showdown a draw. The Dazzle 6 in 1 is more portable and less expensive than the Pocket DigiDrive, but I appreciated the latter's drive identification and its separate slots. Those attri-butes may sway people who don't plan on schlepping their card reader everywhere.

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