Belkin Media Reader with Dock Connector for iPod (White)

by Belkin

Product Features

• Compatibility: iPod 3G, 4G, 5G, 6G; nano 1G, 2G, 3G; iPod touch; iPod mini
• Lets you back up digital images to your iPod and take them with you on the road, using your iPod's abundant storage to handle thousands of digital photos
• Features a built-in LED indicator for power and data transfers, sliding ports to protect the media slots from dust, and on-board cable storage
• Supports CompactFlash (type 1 and 2), SmartMedia, SecureDigital (SD), Memory Stick and MultiMediaCard (MMC) data storage formats
• Is operated via your iPod's on-screen user interface running version 2.1 or later, and runs on 4 (included) AAA batteries

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Product Description

Amazon.com

With the Belkin F8E461 Media Reader with Dock Connector for iPods you can now store more than tunes, better maximizing the uses for your iPod. The innovative Belkin Media Reader gives you a great way to back up digital images to your iPod and take them with you on the road, using your iPod's abundant storage to handle thousands of digital photos and free up your camera's more limited disk space so you can keep taking pictures.

The Belkin media reader is easy to use, requiring you to simply connect it to your iPod via the attached dock connector, and insert any of the six supported media types into the Media Reader. Using software support that's already built into your iPod (software version 2.1 or later), your pictures transfer easily via ultra-fast, 300 Kbps FireWire technology. Now, you're ready to start shooting again! And when you get home, just link your iPod like normal to your computer to retrieve all your images. The Media Reader for iPod lets you take advantage of its massive storage space for all your photos, regardless of the size of your camera's removable storage device.

The Belkin F8E461 indicates power and data transfer status via a built-in LED indicator, and features sliding ports to protect the media slots from dust when not in use, and handy on-board cable storage to keep things tidy when not in use. This unit supports CompactFlash (type 1 and 2), SmartMedia, SecureDigital (SD), Memory Stick and MultiMediaCard (MMC) data storage formats, is operated via your iPod's on-screen user interface running version 2.1 or later, and runs on four (included) AAA batteries.

Compatible with iPods with a dock connector, updated software, and photo support--including iPod 4G (Click Wheel), and iPod color--the Belkin media reader measures only 3.35 x 3.94 x 0.81 inches (W x H x D), and is backed by a manufacturer's 3-year warranty.

What's in the Box
Belkin F8E461 media reader with dock connector, 4 AAA batteries, user's manual and warranty information.

Product Description

The innovative Belkin Media Reader for iPod lets you store more than tunes. It gives you a great way to back up digital images to your iPod, and take them with you on the road. Your iPod's abundant storage handles thousands of digital photos and frees up your camera's disk space so you can take more pictures. Simply connect the Belkin Media Reader to your iPod, and insert any of the six supported media types.

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

94 of 94 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars It works... sort of. March 14, 2004

By Tom Verbeure

I bought this product to store the RAW Canon Digital Rebel photos of my Australia trip. Instead of buying a set of expensive flash cards, I kept my 2 512 MB flash cards and copied the results at the end of the day.
The good:
In the end, it worked and saved me a lot of money, since I already owned an iPod.
The bad: where do I start?
- Copying 512 MB of data almost completely drains the iPod battery. Don't even think about copying more. It doesn't give you a good piece of mind to see the battery indicator go down quickly. Quickly, I decided to fill up the flashcard up to 75% capacity, to have some margin.
- It's EXTREMELY slow. 26 minutes for 512 MB. Not really an issue for me, since I never took more than 50 pictures/day, but other may find this a problem.
- Media Reader battery usage. A set of 4 AAA allowed me to copy roughly 10 512 MB copies. When the batteries run out, everything still seems to work fine until it stops after, say, 12 of the 50 pictures on the card. There's no indication at all about what happened.
- Software Robustness. From time to time, it wouldn't start copying or stop in the middle of a copying session. Restarting always solved the problem, but if this happened at the end, your iPod battery might already be drained by then.

Conclusion: it worked for me, but I can only recommend it if you are really really cash strapped, are a amateur who doesn't shoot that much and already own an iPod with some spare gigabyte. Otherwise you just don't bother.

Tom

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars NOT quick March 6, 2004

By Paul Bramer

Read the advert carefully: "transfer the pictures quickly via FireWire technology". The Firewire port is used but the transfer is really at USB1 (or less) speeds. Since both the reader and iPod must run on batteries, the slow speed and rapid battery drain can become an issue--quickly. The 5-6 minute download for 128MB may be tolerable; the 20-25 minutes for 500MB probably isn't. Brian VanHarlingen, Sr. Technology Manager for Belkin acknowledges this slow speed (see Belkin FAQs or other review sites). Unfortunately, there are currently no alternatives for transferring from camera to iPod (w/o computer).

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as fast as they claim October 28, 2004

By M. Easton

Though the concept is great, and the controls are straight forward and easy to use, the Belkin Reader falls short of usability.

While out on a location, I was away from a power source and thought the Belkin reader would be a great alternative to lugging a laptop around for file transfers. Trying to transfer 1000 pics off a 1GB CF card was

impossible. The reader would drain a fully charged ipod and still not finish the transfer. Though it claims firewire transfer speeds, I did some tests from home and found otherwise:

100 compressed 2K pics transferred via:

USB1 card reader to computer 1 min 20 sec.

PCMCIA card reader in laptop 45 seconds.

Belkin Media reader 6 min. 45 sec

This was just a simple example. You can see how hundreds of files would take 30 minutes or more. For the price, I'd suggest buying a few more memory cards and not worry about the transfers until you get home, unless you're in no rush and can charge up the ipod regularly.