I have bought a used (second hand) Sony DSC P73 digital camera .My OS is Windows 98SE and I am thinking of buying a card reader for it Would someone please explain how it connects (usb?) to my computer how the reader works and do I need anything installing in my computer to make the reader work.

Thanks

I think most card readers simply connect via USB cable.

My camera (Nikon Coolpix) came with it's own software that detects the memory card once it's been placed in the reader and automatically fires up the 'download' manager.

Ensure you get the correct card reader for your memory card type (ie Compact Flash, SD etc etc). My camera is a couple of years old and came with Compact Flash mem cards. My girlfriends just got a Nikon as well but which now uses SD mem cards. So we've now got a multicard reader.

The vast majority these days are usb, and to be honest it's pointless buying anything less - if your pc is old enough to need for example a floppy drive adapter (yes they exist!), then it's probably not fast enough to do anything with the photos once you've copied them over :) Windows XP makes the whole process incredibly easy - you don't need drivers with any card reader, just plug it in and copy the images over (and in fact you can usually just plug the camera straight in with its usb cable, without needing a driver). Windows 2000 sometimes works without a driver - I had it working ok with a single-format reader, but a multi-format one needed a driver install. 98SE will I think work, but will need a device driver - so make sure the hardware you buy comes with one! You can get ones that read any kind of card for about a tenner these days if you shop around, but check the driver information..

Thanks for you replies