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Unlike most digital camera makers, consumer electronics giant Sony has had the resources and clout to design and market its own, proprietary memory card format. Although Sony camera owners can't use other kinds of cards (except in a few higher-end models that also accept CompactFlash), the Sony Memory Stick (MS) universe is large and constantly expanding. The company's latest PRO Duo card is a good example; at 8GB it has twice the capacity of its predecessor. It's also fast, with a maximum transfer rate of 20MB/second.

Those are impressive specs given the card's tiny form factor, 31x20x1.6mm, slightly smaller than an SD card. The PRO Duo also comes with an adapter that allows it to be used in cameras that accept the original (physically larger) Memory Stick cards. Unlike other card formats, MS supports Sony's MagicGate copy protection, which allows you to play (but not share) protected material such as music, video, and games downloaded from compatible devices. About $170.

Lexar Professional UDMA Card Readers

With a league-leading read/write speed of 45MB/second, Lexar's new Professional 300X CompactFlash cards  are currently the fastest on the market. They won't deliver their full upload speed, however, with just any reader: You'll need one of Lexar's souped-up Ultra Direct Memory Access (UDMA) card readers. The Professional 300X CompactFlash Reader looks identical to its predecessor and, likewise, can be used in a stacked group of up to four for simultaneous downloads from multiple cards. To achieve its 100MB/second transfer rate -- twice that of the older unit -- the new model uses a faster FireWire 800 interface, for which there are two ports.

A second new high-speed card reader, the Lexar Professional Dual-Slot Reader, has a single USB 2.0 data port that allows downloads at up to 60MB/second. But it accepts both CompactFlash and SD formats, including Lexar's new Professional 133X SDHC cards. The reader also has a stylish, translucent clamshell cover to protect the card slots. About $80.

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