Digital Home Thoughts: FlashTrax: Take More Pictures Without Carrying a Stack of Cards.

Music for the Masses
As a stand alone music player the FlashTrax is heavier and not as full featured as an iPod type device. It is a nice add-on feature and could be useful for listening to music while waiting in the trenches for the perfect photograph. Plus 20-80gb of storage should be enough to hold a vacations worth of digital photos and a couple of your favorite CD's.

The interface is similar to other desktop media players. By default the music player will play every music file in the directory in alphabetical order. The player can also be configured to play tracks in random order or from a play list.


Figure 4: The Music Player.

Pick your Parameters
All the configuration settings are accessible through the Setup Screen. There are several photo parameters for zooming and panning as well as some music parameters for bass and treble control. It is also possible to format Compact Flash cards here although SmartDisk recommends formatting the cards in camera to get the best compatibility between camera and card. The unit comes with a Compact Flash reader but can read other card formats such as MMC/SD and Memory Stick with a $49.99 add-on 4 in 1 media converter.

Updating the FlashTrax is simple. SmartDisk provides firmware updates on their website. Updates may include bug fixes as well as enhanced functionality such as new RAW file support. Many enhancements come from users, which is a good indication that SmartDisk is dedicated to pleasing their customer base.


Figure 5: Setup Screen.

Conclusions
The FlashTrax incorporates a lot of features into one device. It can be extremely useful for those photo excursions where it is not practical to bring a laptop. The battery is supposed to last three hours at full usage and more if you are backing up cards without using the display. I took it out for a weekend trip and did not have to charge the battery until I returned although I have seen it drain when left inactive for a week or two in my camera bag so keeping it charged before an outing is advised.

When connected to the computer with the USB cable, FlashTrax functions like an external hard drive and can be used to backup images or files. For those of you who own a laptop and an arsenal of gadgets, it may not make sense to purchase yet another device to lug around. For those who are looking to trade in a stack of compact flash cards for a simple to use, full featured photo backup solution on the go, the FlashTrax is a great contender.