Posted Saturday, October 25, 2003

Rethinking a Recommendation: Should You Buy Belkin's Media Reader for iPod?

Over at the fine Digital Photography Review site, forum members are continuing to grouse about slow transfers from the Media Reader.

It appears they have something to complain about.

The Media Reader appears to have very slow transfer rates that become unacceptably slow if you're working with huge image files. Based on this, I've revamped my conclusion and recommendation for the Media Reader.

My current stance is thus: If you work with high-capacity memory cards (512MB and up) and very large files (images in RAW format), you may want to pass on the Belkin Media Reader, at least until Belkin addresses what appear to be some genuine performance problems.

However, if you work with smaller-capacity cards and smaller files (for example, JPEG images from cameras that shoot 4-megapixels or less), you probably won't be bothered by the Media Reader's slow transfer speeds.

Here's hoping Belkin or Apple or somebody releases a firmware update that makes this appealing little device a winner for every digital photographer.