Kingston's New 15-in-1 Flash Memory Reader

[Apoptosis]

Today we take a look at Kingston’s new USB 2.0 Hi-speed 15-in-1 Reader that support 15 popular types of Flash memory cards. If you are looking for a sub-$20 holiday stocking stuffer this might be a perfect gift to go along with all those flash memory devices you just bought!

The reader has been designed with four media ports that support 15 popular types of Flash memory cards, Kingston’s USB 2.0 Hi-speed 15-in-1 Reader is incredibly versatile for both personal and/or business use. The 15-in-1 reader is also plug and play complaint with any USB port and Windows 2000 or newer operating system. (No power cables required to use the reader as it draws power from the USB cable.)

Article Link: Corsair DDR1 2GB Memory Roundup
Pricing Link: Current Pricing

[gvblake22]

Cool. That's a good deal on a nice card reader!
Too bad it doesn't read xD

[sbohdan]

I know it's off topic but could anyone tell me what is the difference between SD and XD besides the price? is it the speed? or just simply different standard?

[Kerii]

xD is a bit slower than SD, and generally more expensive. So you're really not missing out on much unless you own a FujiFilm and Olympus camera.

xD also has issues when used with card readers, since they have special formatting that they use for stuff like Olypmus' panoramic thing. Doing anything with an xD card other than reading with a card reader pretty much renders them unusable in cameras or kills the panoramic ability. Pretty inflexible if you as me. Better off with SD/CF/MS.

[gvblake22]

I know it's off topic but could anyone tell me what is the difference between SD and XD besides the price? is it the speed? or just simply different standard?

SD is much easier to find and therefor usually has a cheaper price. xD was developed by Olympus and Fuji so they can kindof charge whatever they want.
As far as actual performance, it depends because there are different speeds of SD cards available. If you pitted one of those SanDisk Ultra SD cards against a xD card, my guess is that the "Ultra" SD card would beat the xD. But if it were a plain-jane, vanilla SD card and a xD card, they are probably pretty close to equal. I have xD, and I have a little portable xD USB card reader for it and I've used it as a flash drive and it's pretty fast.

But I do have to say, these are all purely subjective observations, not based on any actual numbers or benchmarks. So take it for what you want. :p

[sbohdan]

thanks guys for clearing this up. I just bought an olympus camera so Guess I'm pretty much stuck with the XD format
oh well...

[gvblake22]

xD also has issues when used with card readers, since they have special formatting that they use for stuff like Olypmus' panoramic thing. Doing anything with an xD card other than reading with a card reader pretty much renders them unusable in cameras or kills the panoramic ability. Pretty inflexible if you as me. Better off with SD/CF/MS.

Do you have personal experience with this? Because I used my xD card as in a portable usb card reader a lot and it works fine in both the camera and the card reader. So maybe you just got a funky card or something
And only the Olympus brand xD cards have the panorama function.

I have an Olympus C740 UZ, just for the records...
Like it a lot

[magnetman12003]

Hi All,

I have a Sandisk flash 12 in 1 flash memory card and its gone bad. I suspect an internal short and Sandisk is giving me a runaround about directly replacing it with a new one. I only had it for 2 weeks before the problems started.

It keeps jumping off my USB 2 bus. Reconnect and it works for 2 minutes and does the same thing.

The feature I like about it is the button on the side of the card. Press it and page pops up asking what you want done with the photos on the card. You can send all or any you check to whatever file you want.

What happens when I install a card in the Kingston card reader? Do I have to dig through my computer to see whats on the card or does a user info window pop up as in the case of using the side button on Sandisk card reader?

[Apoptosis]

With the Kingson FCR-HS215/1 reader when you plug media into it, a window from XP Pro pops up asking what you want windows to do with it if that is what you mean. There is no button or anything like that, so once media is in the reader you would have to go to my computer to access them.

Welcome to the forums. I've used this Kingston reader daily since 2005 and it is still working great.