Suggestions about card reader

[Zoltar]

I bought a cheapo (Vantec) card reader to use with my digicam's MS card. The contacts on the reader seem tight, not quite so much as a PCI slot, but still tight. I am wondering how many insertion cycles it will take to wear off the foil on my memory stick, if this is actuallly a concern or not. This is a cheap device; I already had one fail. Thankfully NewEgg's RMA process worked pretty well, so now I am on the second one. Comments appreciated!

[roosta21]

I do not understand why people bother with those card readers. why not just use the usb cable that came with the camera?

[Zoltar]

Sony's first recommendation is to use a card reader. They do not say why, but I have read here and there about wear on the camera jack and the little rubber cover thingy when using a USB cord. I do not know if this is valid since my 3 year old Olympus is still going strong and I only used the cable with it, and the rubber cover still still hanging in there! Another reason is that only newer cameras support USB 2.0. Try uploading at 12mbps instead of 480.