Belkin’s Media Reader for iPods: Don’t Buy It

When I heard that Belkin released a flash card reader for iPods I got pretty excited, now I am just glad I didn’t actually buy one.

I often take tons of photos in one session (1,000 a day easily) and since my iPod is a constant companion it would be a logical choice to store photos on.

Apparently Belkin seems to think carrying an item around that is bigger than the iPod itself, needs batteries and gives transfer speeds of 300KBps for $100 is cutting it.

Well, it doesn’t.

At this speed it would take half an hour or more to transfer just one of the many 256 MB cards I have. To advertise the reader to be capable of “FireWire speed” to “quickly transfer photos,” like it says on the box could therefore be construed as false advertising as a USB 1.1 reader can reach faster speeds, let alone a FireWire one.

Belkin also has no intention of fixing it or even admits any fault on their part. Since they also do not say that the iPod can only transfer 300KBps because of hardware limitations (quite lame as this is slower than USB 1.1) I can only assume it was their choice to make it this slow.

Maybe some other iPod accessory maker on this list can make a better on this list could show Belkin that a better product can be made? If not, then I will just stick to flash cards, as I can currently get two 256 MB cards for the price of the Belkin Media Reader that retails for $100.

Following is the statement that Belkin send to iPodlounge.com.

Statement:

It’s a pleasure to hear from you. Most of us here at Belkin have become regular, daily and sometimes hourly, visitors to iPodlounge.com throughout our product development and launch process. Your site is an extremely valuable source of feedback for us.

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 Media Reader for iPod is optimized for the majority of digital camera users, shooting images of 1MB-3MB in size, and using the predominant sizes of memory cards being purchased today at retail: 64MB and 128MB. The transfer speed we are seeing on the current media reader hardware is, with most media brands/types and using iPod software version 2.1, a little over 300KBps. This results in a transfer time of between five and six minutes for a full 128MB card. There is the possibility of modest speed increases via software; however, we cannot speculate on the likelihood of any software optimizations being introduced.

The iPod has always been first and foremost a digital music player. We welcomed and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work with Apple to bring additional utility to iPod owners, including the current digital wallet capabilities, and hope that these products bring great value to their users.

Note that we are adding information to the FAQs on our website addressing Media Reader speed today, copied from some of what I’ve written here. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks,
Brian VanHarlingen
Sr. Technology Manager