Sakar International next week will announce the iAlbum, a new iPod accessory that allows users to transfer digital photos directly from an SD memory card or a Memory Stick to an iPod without a computer or software. The iAlbum, which connects to the Dock Connector port, works with fifth-generation iPods and color-screen fourth-generation iPods. The iAlbum will be available in black and white later this month for $90.
iAlbum to allow iPod photo transfers from SD, Memory Stick
23 comments
$90 for something that’s pretty much just a limited media reader w/ an iPod compatible port….. seems totally RIDICULOUS …. I might consider it if it’s $19….
im with you DJ….the Apple Camera Connector is 30 bucks, odds are, if you have your SD card around, your camera is probably pretty close by. Who in the world would pay 90 dollars for something they could get for 30.
…And usually Apple is the expensive one and the third party is the cheap route…
Yes you can get the Apple camera connector for $30, but it is only compatible with a very select few digital cameras. Yes I agree the iAlbum is overpriced but to those how love there camera and can’t transfer the pictures with the camera connecter, it may be a necessary evil.
i was looking forward to it until i saw ‘SD and MS’. no CF!? so much for the DSLR users that would probably benefit from something like this. wonder what the transfer times are? iirc, that was the biggest complaint with other adapters. oh, and i agree, the price is insane.
that’s sad. the screen on the 5G is big for an ipod, but it’s not that big. if you have an ipod, you have a computer. if you have a camera that takes SD, chances are you have a computer to unload as well. why would anyone need to spend $90 on something so trivial? i agree, for $20 this might be useful, but the ipod screen isn’t much bigger than a screen you’d find on a compact digital camera. sorry, not well thought out.
I’m with BJNemeth on this one. SD cards and like are so cheap now (even mini-SD are under $100 for a 4GB card). Even a 6MP camera will find it hard to fill up a 4GB card – that’s a thousand 4MB images. And the newer cameras are wireless capable anyway, so you can just offload the pix that way onto a server.
Papa Hobo — Photographers don’t need to see their photos on the iPod’s screen, but they do want to free up their memory cards to be used again when they are out in the field.
There are a lot of situations where a photographer won’t want to bring a laptop with him, but an iPod would be acceptable. An 80 GB iPod could hold weeks and weeks’ worth of photos.
Personally, I think that the price of camera memory has dropped so low that the answer to this problem is to simply buy more memory cards.
I had purchased an SD card reader to transfer photos to my computer. Works great. Was only $8. I also have the Apple camera connector which works great with my camera and iPod.
I tried using them together. Apple’s own FAQ about this states that it should work. It doesn’t. On the Apple forums there doesn’t seem to be ANY device that does this. There are tons of SD card readers that are listed. None of them work.
Now there will be one that works. Maybe for $15 – $20 sure, but $90 – no way!
I take a lot of photos and sometimes I use up my memory card without realizing it. I always have my iPod with me though, so in those cases where I get a little too click happy, this would come in handy for me at least cause I would have a solution for dumping my photos quickly and securely. A lower price would be nicer though.
This would really come in handy for me, as I have both a Canon that takes an SD card and an older Sony camera that takes MS. I don’t know about $90 but I would definitely get something like that for thirty bucks or so.
i think this is great for when you’re on the go without your laptop. i would have loved to have had something like this on my last vacation. i took so many pics i ended up having to buy a new memory card for my camera. would have been much easier to just down load them onto my ipod.
Wow! This sounds like a great product, I’m always filling up my memory card with shots when I’m out taking pictures. I’ve always got my ipod so it’s like this device makes my ipod a 30gb memory card.
I like this idea. I’m an amatuer photographer, and since music set the mood perfectly for any shoot, having my iPod to back up my memory cards is perfect. Definately soemthing i’d get.
BJ Nemeth, as i was reading your post i kept wondering to myself, “why not just buy another card?” and then i read the last bit. cards are getting cheaper by the minute. i would never go out with my camera without enough memory. i saw a 1GB SD card in staples yesterday maked down to $20. my digital camera is 7MP and 1G is plenty of room for me on any occasion. and i usually carry a couple 512s anyway. any photographer taking pictures at that rate where they would need to unload that frequently would surely be expreienced enough to carry sufficent memory with them. again, this product makes no sense.
I think this product is cool because my friends and I swap pics all the time and this would make it so much easier. since we could all share the device and hook up our ipods to it. Can’t wait til it comes out.
The Ugly Truth:
Until the iPod is truly designed to carry and download photos or until someone designs a better reader these type of devices are useless for anyone serious about taking Pics.
I’m a professional photographer and the first thing I bought for my 5G iPod was the apple camera connecter. First of all I can’t use it in the field or durring a wedding cause the camera has to be connected to it. Of course I always have a backup camera but by the time the download is FINALLY done the ipods battery is in the red.
I understand that this device uses the card directly and doesn’t need the camera but I’m willing to bet it still puts a beating on the battery. Anything that make the harddrive do any real work, kills the battery quickly.
Take my word for it… unless you only do a few snapshots here and there, your money is better spent elsewhere.
Every photographer I know, now uses devices built for tranferring and storing photos like the Epson P4000.
–Besides why just SD and MemoryStick!!!!
Most press releases have retails higher than you ever see at retail so that the retailers can show a value. I think this will be a great item and expect to see it lower.
I Completely agree with 3rdEye on the battery issue. If you are just transfering a few pictures…. it’s fine. But i you’re looking to back up or transfer lots of pictures…. nearly all the iPod transfer devices WOULD drain out your iPod battery, and it takes FOREVER to get it done. (this is partly iPod’s battery capacity issue) I’ve done picture back-up to iPod countless times on vacation or camping trips, and by the time a 1GB card is finally transfered…. the iPod is pretty out of juice completely…. and then you’ll have to find a way to charge your iPod to even use it.
These days the flash card prices are so low…. I’d spend the $90 on cards and not something that’s so over-priced AND drain out your iPod battery
The Price has come down $59.99 (Ritz Camera) but its still high. But like all ipod stuff, you can transfer to the Ipod but can you transfer it out of it…
I am looking for something to download SD Video and memory stick photos to my 30G iPod. Any ideas? the Belkin reader is obsolete for the new generation iPods.
$49.99 at Fry’s as of 6 13 07. but I would need an CF version or one that would do both CF and SD or Xd
Yes BUT….
Has anyone used it? Does it work?
That knowledge would be of use to me.
thanx
If you have a DSLR, it doesn’t take long to fill a 2Gb or eve 4Gb card. This will be handy to make a second copy of the card in case you lose the originals or the card is damaged. It’s never too early to backup the photos. Great for a vacation where you really don’t want to carry the laptop into the field.