Portable Media Storage

As mentioned in the other thread, I prefer cards.
I agree with Barbara on the laptop. What could be nicer than watching the sunset at the beach of a tropical island, your feet in a basin of cold water and working on your images in PE at the same time?

Leen

I'm with the laptop group! I've done this on a couple of trips, and it works extremely well. I didn't do much editing on the laptop, but it was really nice to be able to review pictures, name them, and sort them into folders so it was easy to identify later where and when they were taken. Most of the new laptops come with built in CD burners, so the truly paranoid among us could even back up to CD! And, of course, you then have the laptop to use for other stuff - like detailed notes of your trip while you still remember which day you were where and what you did. E-mail, too. And access to the Elements forum so you don't miss your friends while you're gone. :)

Well, just to differ a bit with all of you, I think this is a very interesting product. It weighs only 300 grams! That's less than a pound, so it is a LOT smaller and lighter...and cheaper than a laptop. $365 is not cheap, but a couple of 1GB cards would cost the same, and this thing can store...I dunno, what's the biggest 2.5 inch drive you can buy? 50GB?
I have a stack of cards now, because, Like Bruce, I travel a lot and need lots of storage for pix. My current solution is 6-128MB SM cards and 1GB IBM Microdrive. I fill the cards during the day, and dump them to the MD in the evening, using a neat transfer feature my Oly E20 provides. It has slots for both SM and CF cards. I then clear/reformat them. I don't leave the MD in the camera, inserting it just long enough to do the transfers.
This gives me a total capacity of around 500 pictures, using the highest resolution and highest JPEG quality the E20 provides.
This product would HUGELY expand my photo capacity, with very little space/weight penalty. I would use it the same way, powering it in the evening just long enough to do the transfers. Battery life would not be a problem that way.
It would also solve another problem I have: My other camera only takes CF cards, and I have no way to dump those on the road.
The price doesn't seem that bad to me... not much more than my 1GB MD cost...but that was a few years ago. The price will probably come down pretty quickly. Lots of companies could build this product, and will, if there is enough demand.
Bert
EDIT: Thanks, Bruce, for bringing this product to our attention.

Bert, if you go for it, let us know how you like it.

EDIT I guess I'm just too paranoid, but I'd rather have a way to get photos backed up onto cds or dvds as well on a drive somewhere. Also, I'd rather have a way to see what I've shot in more detail than you can see on a camera lcd.

Barb,
CDs would be safer, you're right, but HDs are pretty reliable these days. I find I rarely use the LCD screen on my camera when I'm taking pictures. I just shoot and shoot. And I don't think I would work on photos when I'm traveling. Too much other stuff to do. I save that for when I get home. With travel photos, you usually don't have a chance to go back and retake anyway. Either you got it or you didn't.
Beth mentioned that she likes to use her laptop to write travel notes, and that would be useful. I'm always struggling, after a long trip, to remember where and when a picture was taken. I have been thinking about buying one of those little digital voice recorders for that purpose. Olympus even makes one that takes SM or CF cards, so I could use the same cards I use in the cameras.
Carrying a laptop when I travel is something I am trying very hard to avoid. Especially in places like Africa, where you need to travel light.
Bert

Barbara,
One feature I did notice about the gizmo, was that you can play your pics back on any monitor, TV, etc... so you can see what you shot in detail. I really don't have an opinion on this, I brought it up to see what you guys thought. I can see good and bad points.

Bruce

I didn't notice that, Bruce. If it really works, that's a big point in its favor.

Bert, have you considered you will have to look at all these images too when you are back home? Probably I misunderstood, but 500 images daily....Did you see anything in an other way than through the viewfinder? ;-)
After a long trip you must have thousands of images to organise.

Leen