xd card reader advice sought

imported_drumstick

I recently bought a Fuji Finepix digital camera with a 512MB xD memory card. I'm planning to take it with me when I go travelling for a year and am trying to suss what's going to be easiest in terms of managing i.e. storing/downloading photos from it while I'm travelling. The plan is to be able to download the photos every so often either to a website that has this as a service or to some other storage device.

I'm not familiar with card readers at all, but more so with USB flash drives.

Qu1: Can anyone tell me if card readers act as drives which store information or whether they just read the xD card you put in them and 'pass on' the data from the card to the computer you link up to?

Qu2: Do some of them need you to load driver information to your pc first in order to use them (which would be no good for travelling with..)?

I've found 3 card readers on amazon which sound appropriate and one on 7dayshop.com but the one on 7dayshop seems limited to reading 256MB xD cards so that's no good. There doesn't seem to be one whihc reads 512MB...

The others vary in size (which is a factor since the smaller the better when it comes to carrying it round the world!) and one seems to read multiple types of memory card which could be useful as my partner has a camcorder which has an SD memory card.

Any clarification on what technology actually exists and what the diferences are would be really appreciated.

I'm coppying details of the card readers I found on amazon and 7dayshop below for info. Apart from the 7daydhop one, the others don't say if they only read up to a certain limit of memory.

1) From Amazon
FUJIFILM DPC UD1 - Card reader ( xD ) - USB
Product Description: FUJIFILM DPC UD1 - card reader - USB
Product Type: Card reader - USB
Supported Flash Memory: XD-Picture Card
Expansion Slots Total (Free): 1 ( 1 ) x xD-Picture Card
£22.60

2) From Amazon:
USB XD card reader
Manufacturer's Description
Digital camera XD USB card reader features easy plug & play installation, high speed data transfer and PC/MAC compatibility. Includes USB cable.
£19.64

3) From Amazon
Fuji Digital Card Reader 7 in 1 DCR-71
Product Description: FUJIFILM DCR-71 - card reader - USB
Product Type: Card reader - USB
Supported Flash Memory: Memory Stick, Microdrive, MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, SmartMedia Card, xD-Picture Card, CompactFlash Card
Expansion Slots Total (Free): 1 ( 1 ) x SmartMedia Card ¦ 1 ( 1 ) x CompactFlash Card ¦ 1 ( 1 ) x xD-Picture Card ¦ 1 ( 1 ) x SD Memory Card ¦ 1 ( 1 ) x Memory Stick ¦ 1 ( 1 ) x MultiMediaCard
Compatible Slots: 1
OS Required: Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional , Apple MacOS X 10.1.2 or later, Apple MacOS 8.6 - 9.2.2, Microsoft Windows 98SE/2000/ME/XP
Manufacturer's Description
You do not have to connect your entire camera to your computer and a power supply - this reader enables you to use the card as if it were part of your computer.The DCR-71 USB reader will read / write all current media cards, including the xD-Picture Card.

4) From 7dayshop.com
USB Memory Card Drive - For XD Picture Card
This ultra compact USB reader/writer is for use with transferring and writing data to and from your computer and a XD Picture Card (eXtreme Digital). Hot Plug and Play, fully compliant with USB V1.1 specification. Supports 16Mb ~ 128Mb XD Picture cards.
Suitable for all versions of Window after ME and Upwards, and MAC OS 9.x. Not Suitable for Windows 98 or 98SE.

scheming_gypsy

a card reader works the same way as a disk drive where you just copy the info off it.

Most card readers will come with install software but some may be pre-loaded onto XP.

The main question is where you're planning do all this. If you're hoping to walk into a net cafe then you'll struggle to find one that will let you go plugging them in. Most places will probably have their own readers for use..