REVIEW- iPod Card Reader- LONG

[David Gawlowski]

With the thought of fragmentation (and because I had been trying to connect my iPod to XPlay on windows with some resulting issues) I wiped my iPod first (full restore), uploaded music, and then loaded the 2.1 software before I began my review tests.

As for the X rating for the cards, I DID give that, and I am running about as fast as there is out there today, 40X write 52X read! (ie 6 MB/sec and 7.8 MB/sec) There was no practical difference between cards, you will note from my first post, regarding card speed and the other one is the el cheapo sandisk too, rated at around 793K/sec write/read speed! (so I had the top and bottom fo the spectrum covered) The cards were wiped in-camera before the tests were begun as well.

Finally, I hate to be suspect of that 3MB/sec review, but I didn't see very much info as to how that number was arrived at. Couple that with the confirmation that Belkin tech support admitted a 0.33 MB/sec transfer time and I don't think we are looking at variables here, unfortunately, just a problem.

I feel better hearing someone else got the same answer I did, but I'll feel better when this thing behaves a little more like a FW device instead of a USB1.1....

Dave

You know, it occurs to me to wonder if this might in any way depend
on how "full" or "empty" (or perhaps "fragmented") the iPod is
before the transfer.

Suggestion: for performance positings, include the approximate
percent full of the iPod (if you don't actually want to wipe the
disk first, which would be a GREAT thing to try!), the X rating of
the card, the BRAND/MODEL/SIZE of the card, average file size on
the card, how fast the same card transfers through any other medium
you have (FireWire reader, USB 1.1/2.0 reader, etc.).

There are so many possible factors/variables not pinned down that
it's really hard to compare different reports on speed. Some
report a reasonable 3 MB/sec, others a tenth of that. Since the
slowest speed "link" dominates, who know what the critical factors
here are? Slow card, fragmented disk, huge/tiny file size, the
Beltin box itself and the associated iPod software, etc. all come
to mind as POSSIBLE factors.

Doug

--
Dave G
Canon D60, 50mm 1.8, 75-300 USM II, Sigma 17-35, Apple Cube G4

 

[Mike Oetting]

Dave,

Thanks for reporting your experiences with the Belkin reader. Hopefully Belkin will be all over this problem until they resolve it.

Incidentally, I have submitted this thread to http://www.macintouch.com , which has a section for iPod user reports. Hopefully some people there with the reader can post their observations of use with large CF cards.

Please keep us posted as to Belkin's response to your inquiry.

Best Wishes,
Mike

http://www.ReflectionsOfReality.com

 

[BJN]

Is the unit rated for NiMH rechargeables? With the slow xfer, these would seem to be sensible. Unfortunately, they also have a rapid self-discharge.

I'll stick a data tank device with much faster speed and much greater transfer-per-charge capability. I hope Belkin and Apple can work it out.

--
BJN

 

[BJN]

This review gets a transfer rate of 3 megabytes per second which is
much, much faster.

http://www.professordevigal.org/blog_in/archives/000278.html

Sounds like he really didn't try more than a few jpegs for the xfer. Probably has no idea how fast it really is.

--
BJN

 

[Seth Honeyman]

I feel better hearing someone else got the same answer I did, but
I'll feel better when this thing behaves a little more like a FW
device instead of a USB1.1....

Dave

Dave

I got roughly the same results as you with an almost new, almost unpopulated iPod. I took a Ridata card with 15 1DS raw images. At about 11 MB per image, that would be roughly 165 MB. As a control, I downloaded with a firewire card reader directly to my Powerbook. The Belkin/iPod combination took 6 minutes 20 seconds while the card reader took only 57 seconds. Its thus just about 1/10 as fast as a firewire card reader. That aint good, but I will wait a while before making any decisions on returning,

 

[Ole Anders]

This review gets a transfer rate of 3 megabytes per second which is
much, much faster.

http://www.professordevigal.org/blog_in/archives/000278.html

Sounds like he really didn't try more than a few jpegs for the
xfer. Probably has no idea how fast it really is.

Actually the review in question says 'about 3Mb'. That probably means 'about 3Mbit'. If there is a standard it is that b=bit and B=Byte. Of course one can never trust this so I always write Mbit and MByte. Anyway 3Mbit/s is consistent with the other results.

Ole Anders

 

[Dmitry Zee]

Looks like its not being shipped yet.

 

[David Gawlowski]

Bought direct from the Apple store, about 30 seconds after it re-opened after the announcements. Paid for ground shipping, showed up in two days (I live in San Diego).

Hmmmm...maybe they've stopped shipping because they're rolling out a fix for the slow transfers? One can hope!

Looks like its not being shipped yet.

--
Dave G
Canon D60, 50mm 1.8, 75-300 USM II, Sigma 17-35, Apple Cube G4

 

[David Gawlowski]

Just heard back from Belkin on my email request for help:

Thank you for contacting Belkin Technical Support

The F8E461 card reader for the Ipod is only able to transfer files at
.3 mb per sec.

If you have any other questions or problems please call us toll free
at (800)223-5546 ext. 2263

Well isn't THAT helpful?!? Bet if they put that on the box it would NOT sell- I know I would have passed.

I still haven't had time to talk to Apple regarding this- maybe Monday. Be interesting to see if I can get any helpful info out of them or if they just pass me to Belkin...

Dave

 

[win39]

I was in an Apple Store and bought one before I saw this thread and then hung onto it trying to decide whether to return it. Curiosity got the better of me.

I started with a full 512MB Lexar 12X card filled to capacity with raw images from my D100. I had just recharged the iPod. It took about 22 minutes to transfer all the images to the iPod. The battery indicator on the iPod looked almost fully discharged with just a little black tip still showing.

I hooked the iPod to a FW connector on my Mac. When it mounted I double clicked on it. As I scrolled down to find the DCIM folder, the Nikon software launched automatically and I was able to import the images with no problem. They imported very quickly and in the few minutes involved the battery indicator had bounced back to over 2/3 charged.

I don't know what is happening with the iPod battery indicator. I know that it recharges very slowly on the base unit plugged into AC. There is no way it could have recharged in the 4 or 5 minutes it was hooked to the FW bus. So it is evidently not discharged as much as the indicator says. Nevertheless, I would be really afraid to transfer images from a 1 gig card or this card if I had been using the iPod to listen to some tunes.

So it appears to me that both the image transfer speed of the Belkin reader is inadequate and one would have to use the iPod dedicated only to this one use and possibly have to have some auxiliary way of charging it. Does not look like a practical device to me at all.

Hope Apple will take it back.

 

[l.x.]

Belkin just seems to repeat the old PC saying "it's not a bug, it's a feature". How classy is that?! I'd say they had better put some info about the (lack of) transfer speed on the box, or they'll have to deal with plenty of returns...

Belkin... DISMISSED... who's next to try?

LX+R

 

[David Goldwasser]

This is on their site

http://www.archos.com but I don't see a price on it yet, I would expect under $400?

I don't own an iPod and ran to my computer everytime a new one was announced to see about photo storage. Well once I finally saw the solution they had I ended up breaking down and buying a different device that I had dismissed as too expensive in the past. The Archos AV320 for $600. Yes its expensive but very slick device. I will use the video feature a lot as I don't have a functioning VCR.

As far as raw photos I have asked them about firmware upgrade to allow it to read jpg files embeded within raw files, but until then work around I came up with is to run slideshow from D300 into the AV320. Then I can review them that way. If I manually scroll threw while viewing histogram may be even better.

The Gmini 120 seems to be similar device without that video input/output and display. bascially MP3 player/recorder and photo storage.

Although I have the AV320 I'm waiting on CF adapter ($30) so I don't know transfer speed. I have had a Mindstor for years but have never trusted it. By the way the Gmini120 does not require a CF adapter, but they did withhold a piece of software that you have to buy to make use of this feature.

With the AV320 also have a 3mp camera/camcorder but at $200 I don't think it is worth it, could just get very small self contained camera instead.

--
David Goldwasser
http://www.inertia-llc.com

 

[Jack Ikes]

Archo GMini 120 seems to hit the right combination of feature set and the price. I bought it for MSRP of $250.

Oct 24 was the first day the Photo Wallet software becomes available for an additional $30 downloadable from Archos web site.

The result so far has proven to be a disappointment.

Things don't work:

1) All jpegs downloaded are corrupted. I used a Simpletech 512MB on 10D. Every single file is chopped off by a percentage ranging from 20% to 80% although the original file size is maintained.

2) No support of RAW format. The Gmini completely ignores the RAW files and only transfers the jpegs in the folder.
3) Illegal file format will cause MP3 player to crash. e.g. .mp2 .rm files.

4) Software upgrade may wipe out all data on the drive. The original Gmini came with OS1.0 to requires an upgrade to 1.2 for Photo Wallet to work. Mine indicated drive full on the first CF dowload at about 200MB mark (I still have 10GB available on the drive) and crashed and it takes a complete reformat using FAT32 to recover it.

Things do work:
1) MP3 works OK and I like the bookmark feature.

2) Battery life 10 Hours continuous MP3 playing after a full charge. And I could download 8 times the full CF512 card before internal battery dies.

3) CF data transfer speed OK. It takes around 10 minutes to download a full 512MB card which translates into 0.85MB/s provided the read speed of the CF card is only 1.5MB/s.

Looks like we are used as beta testers again on this one. Although it plays MP3 generally OK it is useless as a portable storage. Wait unitil they fix it.

Jack

 

[William Robinson]

Since the Belkin device doesn't install any software on the iPod (the Apple update apparently does that) it might be possible to use any firewire card reader to transfer images. I have a Lexar firewire compact flash reader, which I use with my desktop G4. I do not have an iPod, but would get one if I could easily trasnfer images to it on the road.

Does anyone who has an (updated) iPod and a firewire reader care to test this notion? I realize the Belkin reader is a (battery) powered device and my card reader is not, but it might function.

william

 

[Douglas Palmer]

Good luck, I've been trying to get someone with an ipod to test the possiblities for some time now with requests on different forums, but with no joy. I did however manage to borrow an ipod an do some tests myself, but they were all with usb devices. I don't think the software update allows the ipod to function as a usb master as I had hoped. I wanted to connect it directly to the camera. Does the lexar reader have batteries? That is one of the reasons for using the belkin, if it does it may work, apparently the ipod doesn't supply power from its cable. Tried to find someone with a firewire camera to try direct connection to the ipod but didn't find one before I had to give the ipod back.

Regards
Doug

Since the Belkin device doesn't install any software on the iPod
(the Apple update apparently does that) it might be possible to use
any firewire card reader to transfer images. I have a Lexar
firewire compact flash reader, which I use with my desktop G4. I do
not have an iPod, but would get one if I could easily trasnfer
images to it on the road.

Does anyone who has an (updated) iPod and a firewire reader care to
test this notion? I realize the Belkin reader is a (battery)
powered device and my card reader is not, but it might function.

william

 

[Mike Oetting]

Jim Heid's Macintosh Digital Hub site http://www.macilife.com/ has commented on the performance issue and this thread. He has changed his recommendation from basicaly buy it to it depends. Hopefully the people at Belkin will be all over this.

Mike

http://www.ReflectionsOfReality.com

 

[iPodlounger]

iPodlounge.com has posted an official statement from Belkin regarding the Media Reader issue.

http://ipodlounge.com/ipodnews_comments.php?id=1750_0_7_0_M

 

[Dennis Lathem49692]

iPodlounge.com has posted an official statement from Belkin
regarding the Media Reader issue.

http://ipodlounge.com/ipodnews_comments.php?id=1750_0_7_0_M

I read this "head in the sand" statement and I had to laugh.

Quoting Belkin---------------------

"In regards to your questions, Belkin does not have any plans to modify the hardware design of the Media Reader for iPod in the immediate future. The current product balances several hardware considerations, including street price, transfer speed, battery life and portability, with software considerations. Design decisions have been made to address the needs of the largest percentage of owners of digital cameras and iPods, and we believe the product to be successful in doing so."

----------------------------------------

The iPod is a great piece of technology. I believe the same segment of the portable mp3 market that buys the iPod is the same group that would be purchasing a high MP (4-6MP) digital cameras and using not 64MB or 128MB cards but 512MB to 1GB cards.

Either the folks at Belkin jumped into this "accessory" without taking the time for proper research or they knew the limitations going in and seriously miscalculated what iPod owners (and wannabe owners) would want or accept.

My question to Belkin is... if most digital camera owners only use 64 or 128 MB cards and like slow transfer speeds then why in the heck do you even bother with making and marketing a USB 2.0 card reader?

Given that judgement of the market we should look for a new BELKIN RS232 "serial" card reader any day now. ;-)

I still may ask Santa for a 20GB iPod for Christmas.

--
CDL

 

[Mike Oetting]

I can't believe this is their official response. All of the evidence seems to indicate that they didn't bother to test large xfers, which is, quite frankly, shocking. Perhaps they should have considered that people who want to store large amount of data might want to have it done relatively quickly (i.e. not at usb 1.1 speeds).

I will wait a few weeks at most for the belkin adapter to get its act together, then I will move along (my reason for waiting this long for upgrading my X's-Drive is the xfer speed).

--
Mike

http://www.ReflectionsOfReality.com

 

[David Gawlowski]

As reported above, (for the lazy here's the link again: http://www.ipodlounge.com/ipodnews_comments.php?id=1750_0_7_0_M ) Belkin has offically declared themselves blind to the market they sought to serve. I am stunned that they truly believe that people who own a 64 or 128 MB card will then shell out $100 to convert their iPod into a Digital Wallet... in my experience EVERY photographer who relies on a single 64 or 128 card doesn't even KNOW what a DW frickin IS! If they take enough photos to have begun researching such a solution, then, listen up here Belkin, THEY FIRST BUY BIGGER CARDS WHICH IS NO LONGER YOUR ALLEGED MARKET!!!!!!

How Belkin could claim that the product has the 'right balance' is astounding and infuriating. To say that they acknowledge the problem and are working on it was fine, but to say "that's it and we're not going to work on it" is amazing. That they think their 'market' is those people who take so few pictures they don't buy bigger cards, but somehow DO need a 40 GB digital wallet, well, to quote Dennis Miller, that's 'not just run-of-the-mill stupid, that's weapons-grade stupidity.'

In hindsight it is kind of odd that NONE of the original documentation or packaging mentioned anything about the transfer times which I guess should have raised a big ol' flag, but my enthusiasm and trust in the Belkin name got the better of me. So, shame on me too. They of course NOW are mentioning it, so we'll see how many they sell now that people know these things are slugs... And you can bet I will be cruising the net looking for a competing product 'cause hopefully the genie's out of the bottle- Lexar, SanDisk, Griffiin, you guys listening?!? Gaping market hole ripe for the picking!

Anyway, thanks for listening, and I hope you kids learned something here today
Keep your receipt!

L8R-
Dave