Advantages: Good software bundle, cheap, works well.
Disadvantages: Only stereo out on analogue

...It's not always easy or convenient to open your PC to install a new soundcard. You may just not like the idea of physically opening the machine. It may be you are a laptop owner and plagued by their notoriously poor audio capabilities. In either case, if you need to upgrade your machine's sound capabilities, the Creative SoundBlaster MP3+ is just what the doctor ordered. I've had mine a couple of years now so you'll probably be looking to eBay or similar if you want to get one now. Installation Being a USB device, you simply need to install the drivers, plug it in to a USB socket and away you go. The MP3+ takes its power from the USB connection so no external power pack is needed which is a major plus point when your computer corner is heaving with external power packs hanging out of wall sockets. My PC has Windows XP... Read review

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Advantages: Easy to install
Disadvantages: None

...I have bought this PCI card a week ago. Reason: I have got a MSI K7T266Pro2 motherboard that only offer USB1.1 ports (1.5Mbytes/s maximum transfer rate). Since I have got devices that uses USB2.0 and without breaking my piggy bank to upgrade my computer, the most economical way is to install a PCI card that offers USB2.0 connections (up to 480Mbits/s or 60Mbytes/s, 40X faster than USB1.1) for 1 internal port and 4 external ports. Before you buy a USB2.0 PCI card, make sure that your motherboard got version 2.2 PCI slots which are USB2.0 compatible. If your motherboard hasn't got version 2.2 PCI slots or higher, don't bother. You need a motherboard upgrade. Also, your operating system needs to be windows 2000 service pack 4 or windows XP which provides appropriate drivers to support USB2.0. For the other operation systems... Read review

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Advantages: Great surround sound, Pleasing design, Complementary to Creative Speakers, Easy to use, cheaper option to replacing internal soundcard of laptops plus the bonus of having surround sound, wide range of inputs other than PC.
Disadvantages: Relatively bulky, expensive

...aiding the Dolby Digital playback, making it the perfect partner for DVD movies, helping your speakers create the more realistic bangs and explosions and surround sound. It is similar to the stuff that you find in the movie theatres, except that its packed within this small black and silver casing. Although the sound card is external, there is absolutely no lag in the sound coming from your PC. The high speed USB cable is fast enough to make it seem as if the Extigy’s built into your PC, but in actual fact, its not. And the Extigy doesn’t even take up much space, as it can be either placed down flat, or standing up (which saves a lot of space. Support stands are included.) -SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS INCLUDED- Sound Blaster Extigy comes bundled with several software applications (that are mentioned in detail further below) that range from... Read review

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Advantages: Plug and Play Connectivity and Easy To Use
Disadvantages: Need Some PC Knowledge To Install

...STABILITY Extremely stable. Just plug your USB device into it and it works every time I’ve never had a problem with it. The only problem I could foresee would be if you were running Windows 95 or Windows 98 First Edition because these didn’t support USB. There are patches that you can download to get round this but I’m told that they are unstable although I’ve not used them myself so I can’t be sure on that. SPEED This is a USB 1.0 card which has a data transfer rate of 12mb a second which is far faster that serial which I believe is around the 4mb (although that may be wrong). However it is far slower than the new USB 2.0 which runs at just over the 450mb a second and that is even faster than Firewire (aka IEEE 1394) which runs at about 412mb a second. EASE OF INSTALLATION You will need; One spare PCI slot One USB card... Read review

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Advantages: Good price, fanastic card, a real boost over onboard sound !
Disadvantages: Sound recording problems with 3rd party software ..ill explain later...

...Audigy NX 2 USB Soundcard. Specs: USB Plug and play (with correct drivers installed. comes on cd with product and also updates from the manufacturers website) For use with 5.1 or 7.1 surround speakers Comes with own IR ( infa red ) hand control!! (How sweet is that???) Very good as well, you can access and change a lot of the settings right in your own hand, as well as exploring your computer for music files to play! And selecting them from your media list (not windows media, but the included media program that comes with the card.) With USB 2.0 it will work with sample rates up to 96 KHz, where normally only 44.1 or 48.0 KHz are used. (The standard on this card is 48.0 KHz and it doesn’t really cater for 44.1 KHz although I have not had any problems with this. NOTE USB 1.1 only allows upto 48.0 KHz! ) It also allows... Read review

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Advantages: Have plenty of USB ports at any time
Disadvantages: Can be a bit of a pain when it comes to the power supply.

...the transformer. On the top and directly over the USB sockets are LED's that tell me when any of the USB sockets are in use and another LED that tells me if it is connected to the transformer. How easy is it to use? I found it very easy to set up and use, first I plugged the connector lead into a spare USB socket on the back of my PC, then I plugged the other end into the USB hub. The next step was to plug the transformer into the mains and the corresponding pin into the socket on the USB hub. What can it be used for? I have used this for plugging in scanners, printers, mass-storage devices (including a PSP), web cam, a mouse, high-resolution cameras and USB hard drives. The list does not end there, also you can add flash card readers, Blue tooth adapters, pen drives, basically anything that has a USB connection can be plugged... Read review

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Advantages: Upload Speed, Increased Battery Life
Disadvantages: None

...I've been putting up with slow upload on my Olympus C2020Z digital camera for over a year, but when I got a 32Mb card it was painfully slow - like watching paint dry. So I finally bought a Jessops USB Smartmedia Card Reader and it's great. The installation on a Windows 98 PC is simple, the card comes with a CD with the appropriate drivers, and has bundled Piccolo thumbnail software for viewing and sending files to Jessops over the internet for printing, though I've not tried that service yet. The USB Card reader is powered via the USB port, and comes with an extension cable which makes it easy to connect to a desktop PC. Once installed and with a Smartmedia card inserted, it appears as a new removable drive. Piccolo will automatically catalogue all your pictures on your PC, and a thumbnail viewer will launch. I close them down... Read review

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Advantages: reliable, USB2, vista compat, 42 different formats, lively lighty up bits
Disadvantages: bit boring to look at

...I bought this card reader at that famous hit-tech computer store ;) Tesco. So I didn't expect that much especially at the price but it was going to be better than my ultra cheap no name card reader it replaced. I've been using this card reader now for about 9 months. It cost £9.00 when I bought it so I didn't expect too much. But it surpassed my expectations and has beaten off my attempts to replace it with newer more modern units (usually ones advertising it will read 99 different card types and ones which are much much prettier). The Trust EasyConnect Card Reader is a USB 2 device which does its job without fuss or fault. It accepts cards via the front panel or the back panel and handles (amongst othersCompact Flash, Mini Drive, SMC, XD (for Fuji and Olympus), MS, MMC, and SD cards. Basically, if you have a memory card for your... Read review