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Digital Photo Storage And More February 18, 2004 Several new devices make it easy to store digital photos. These devices also offer a few other perks, such as viewing the photos on the unit, connecting to a TV or even viewing DVD movies. Now there’s no need to carry a stack of memory cards when taking large numbers of pictures--just burn them onto a CD or store them on a removable hard drive and reuse the camera’s memory cards. Here are some units we’ve tried recently:
FlashTrax (Smart Disk, 20GB $399.99, 40GB $499.99, 80GB $699.99, www.smartdisk.com) houses a hard drive and a 3.5 inch color LCD screen in its stylish blue and grey compact flip-top case. The unit has a card socket for CompactFlash I/II or IBM microdrives, and an optional adapter ($49.99) accepts SmartMedia, Memory Stick and SD/MMC cards. The automatic copy function is amazing. Pop the memory card into the slot, push the Copy button, and FlashTrax turns on and copies the contents of the card on to its internal hard drive. The copied files are put into a folder automatically labeled with the day’s date, appended with an "a." If you copy additional memory cards the same day, new folders are created, automatically appended with "b," "c" and so on. The bright LCD screen can display the file explorer, listing the contents of the internal drive or memory card. Some file functions, such as duplicate, move or delete, are available. The screen also displays photos with jpeg, gif, bmp and some avi formats. To view a photo from the hard drive or the card, use the file explorer to find the file. A thumbnail of the photo is displayed along side the file list, so you’re sure that photo file named P1000967.jpg is the one of your aunt or whatever. Select the file to see it full screen. You can zoom and pan to see detail (are her eyes really closed?). The unit can play a slide show of all the photos on the internal disk or memory card, making it easy to review your photos or share them with others. You can also use the included video cable to connect to a TV to show the photos, including the slide show, on television. The FlashTrax can also play MP3 or wav music or sound files. These files can be copied from memory cards to the hard drive and played from the hard drive or from the card. Use earphones or connect to your sound system to play music files manually, sequentially or randomly. The unit is fully portable and powered by a custom integral rechargeable lithium ion battery. The included full-function infra-red remote control is another plus, allowing remote control of all file, picture, music and setup functions. The included AC adapter can be used to power the unit as well as charge the battery. The included USB 2.0 cable lets you connect the FlashTrax to your computer. When connected, it becomes an extra hard drive. You can perform all the usual file functions, such as move, copy, delete and the like. An extremely well-written User Guide takes you step by step through all FlashTrax’s functions.
RoadStor (Micro Solutions, $269, www.microsolutions.com) uses one-touch simplicity to burn a CD-R or CD-RW directly from your memory card. The RoadStor can then play back the photos on the CD through a TV. Memory card slots are provided for Compact Flash I/II, Smart Media, SD/MMC and Memory Sticks. Multiple sessions can be burned on one CD-R, with each card contents automatically put in a separate folder. The unit is compact and portable, powered by a custom integral rechargeable battery and/or the AC adapter. A cool extra feature is RoadStor’s ability to play DVD movies through your TV by using the included video or S-Video cables. Not only that, but it’ll play MP3 files through your sound system. An infra-red remote control handles playback of photos, MP3 music or DVD movies. A slide show feature can cycle through your photos. When connected to your computer via the included USB 2.0 cable, the RoadStor acts as an external DVD movie player or, using the included SpeedyCD software, an external CD-R burner and CD-ROM drive. Lots of extra features in this unit.
SnapDisk (PNI Corporation, $299, www.pnicorp.com) is a memory card-to-CD burner, all in one compact unit about the size of a portable CD player. SnapDisk automatically verifies the burned CD, so you know you have a good copy. The unit has slots for seven types of memory cards but will only burn to a clean CD-R, so you can’t burn additional memory cards to a disk that has already been written to. The SnapDisk runs from the included AC adapter or an optional external battery pack. There is no option for computer connections. With the SnapDisk, simplicity is the key. The unit works well, and with one-button ease. The AC adapters for all the three units described are 100-240 VAC, 50-60Hz, so they can be used abroad. In addition, TV output can be switched from NTSC to PAL format, so it is suitable for use in many foreign countries. |
