CompactFlash/SmartMedia Readers

The fastest and simplest way to deliver digital files straight to your computer is through a media card reader. This eliminates the need to hook your camera up to your Mac. Media card readers usually come in one of three flavors: CompactFlash (Type I and/or Type II), SmartMedia, or combo readers that accept both types of media. Macworld looked at combo readers and CompactFlash readers with different capabilities and compared them.

Both Kingston’s USB PC Card Reader and the MDCF-FW FireWire Compact Flash card reader from FireWire Depot read Type I/II Compact Flash media, thereby offering some versatility, but not as much as the combo readers.

Although FireWire is potentially much faster than USB, unless you have a camera that uses a super high resolution, digital camera and MP3 files are usually small enough to be well served by a USB connection and do not justify the extra cost for the speedier FireWire interface. For those looking for speed (if you plan on saving images in the TIFF format, for example) and are willing to pay for it, FireWire Depot’s MDCF-FW FireWire CompactFlash card reader delivers.

Media Readers Compared

Company	Product	Mouse Rating	List Price	Contact	Pros	Cons
Ratoc Systems	CF03U		$69	408/955-9400, www.ratocsystems.com	Reads Type I Media	Not compatible with G4 AGP systems; doesn’t read Type II CompactFlash media; high price for limited features.
VST Technologies	Flash Media Reader		$70	978/635-8200, www.vsttech.com	Can mount CompactFlash and SmartMedia cards simultaneously.	None.
FireWire Depot	MDCF-FW		$129	sales@firewiredepot.com , www.firewiredepot.com	Uses FireWire interface for faster file transfers.	Expensive.
Kingston Technology	PC Card CF Reader		$50	877/546-4786, www.kingston.com	Inexpensive.	None.
AVerMedia	AVerFotoMate		$70	408/263-3828, www.aver.com	Includes a PCMCIA CompactFlash adapter for notebooks; reads both SmartMedia and CompactFlash.	PCMCIA card superflous for some users.