iLounge

21

I guess you really dont understand this product

from belkin

“The Belkin Digital Camera Link supports all mass-storage DCF-format cameras and PTP-compliant cameras.”

what this means, you can hook up a USB cable from camera to the item we’re speakng of, and place ipod/reader on a belt, and start shooting, so its a 40GB hard drive for the camera

take a photo, it goes directly to the ipod, not transfering it over, yes you could transfer the items over.

you can use a camera WITHOUT a memory card, if your camera does PTP mode.

Posted by camera user on April 23, 2004 at 7:09 PM (PST)

22

This thing sounds a lot cooler than the Media Reader,.Whens it due out?I NEED something like this, is this the only option for this kind of device??sounds like it.
Belkin are really on top of Ipod accessories, but is anyone else gonna come to the party?

Posted by Dahj on April 23, 2004 at 8:40 PM (PST)

23

Camera user, are sure about that? But if it does won’t it be a little slow to shoot the picture, if it has to store on th ipod first?

Anyone know when it will be released? As I’m going on vacation mid June. Hope to take this with me.

Posted by Willi on April 24, 2004 at 2:33 AM (PST)

24

They have these in Radio Shack for around $15. Basically they imitate a master USB device and come with their own on-board storage so you can transfer data from a device to them in piggyback mode, then push the data on to another device.

They are still big and bulky. I don’t see why Apple can’t take a leaf out of some of the other manufacturer’s books and build in a CF slot into the iPod. I see some audio players for $150 now have CF/SD slots - it doesn’t seem that difficult.

Posted by Radio SHack on April 24, 2004 at 6:09 AM (PST)

25

From the FAQ:

The Camera Link, with most cameras, can reach transfer speeds of 750KBps on PC-formatted iPods and 650KBps on Mac-formatted iPods.  This results in a transfer time of between 3 and 5 minutes for a full 128MB card.  The transfer speed can vary based on the type of digital camera being used.

The optional verification process, if used, is roughly 20-30% slower than the data transfer speed due to the data compare process addition.

Posted by 750KBps on April 26, 2004 at 3:21 AM (PST)

26

This is a joke. Everything these days now has media slot readers on them.

Cameras? Check.

Portable Audio players? Check.

USB disk drives? Check.

The 3G iPod is the odd one out - even those cheap low-end $150 mp3 players they sell in Circuit City now have slots for CF and SD and screens to display photos.

I am willing to bet the 4G iPod will have slot readers and on-screen display. If it does not then Apple’s managers deserve to be taken out and shot.

Posted by bulku as hell on April 26, 2004 at 8:27 AM (PST)

27

Finally this device is available from Belkin’s website. Anyone tried this ? I’m planning to use it with Sony DSC-F717 (256MB MS), want to know what will be the speed ? It seems Belkin is keeping quiet about speed. If 256MB MS takes 5-6 minutes to transfer than it is okay.

Posted by MJ on May 6, 2004 at 3:06 PM (PST)

28

Okay, seems like it won’t be worthwhile because:

The transfer speed will be slower than USB 1.1’s
It takes me 5 min to transfer a 256MB Card at that speed
It will drain the iPod battery within a very few minutes—those of us who tried using an iPod with firewire on a PC (without the dual cable) found out transfers KILL the battery on iPod very quickly.  You have 20 minutes of transfer tops.

At the very least, it will greatly diminish your listening time after transfer… don’t expect to be able to do both.

As for the cable issue, you’d need a cable no matter what, unless they made a CF reader.

They won’t do a CF reader because, some of you may have forgotten, there are 6 different types of memory and they’re going for universality without having to design and support 6 different devices.

Posted by bmac on May 7, 2004 at 4:17 AM (PST)

29

Why don’t they make it smaller?

What are you idiots complaining about? 

Don’t you think THEY WOULD MAKE IT SMALLER IF THEY COULD?  Obviously its JUST NOT POSSIBLE. 

Currently its the size of an iPod.  THAT ISN’T ALL THAT BIG AND SMALLER THAN THE NEAREST SUBSTITUTE, A LAPTOP.

It has DEFINITE value as long as you only do it when you can charge your iPod right afterward.

Especially after they come out w/ the 4G iPod, this will be MORE USEFUL not less useful.  4G will reportedly let you view slideshows from the iPod on a TV Screen via the Video Out, or you can view pics w/ the new color screen.

Posted by bmac on May 7, 2004 at 4:22 AM (PST)

30

How about this SyncBox? Seems to link two USB devices together. Anyone know if it works with the iPod? The product description says it works with mp3 files.

Looks smaller than the Belkin, and at $50 is def cheaper!

http://www.macally.com/gif/products/specialties/syncbox/syncbox_6.gif

http://www.macally.com/gif/products/specialties/syncbox/hand.gif

http://www.macally.com/gif/products/specialties/syncbox/syncbox_4.gif

Posted by SyncBox on May 7, 2004 at 11:32 AM (PST)

31

Syncbox will not work with iPod. I talked to technical person and Syncbox and it is not compatible with iPod. Also as per reviews the speed is major factor with syncbox. You can get Digital Camera Link for 45USD using coupon code ‘12345’ at Belkin.com.

Posted by MJ on May 7, 2004 at 12:36 PM (PST)