what is a compact flash card?

Question

i plan on buying a portable recording studio and all of them say they store files onto a flash card that gets it onto the computer. what is a flash card and how do you get files off of it to the computer? some of them also say theyll use a usb instead, but if i use one, wil i need some sort of program on my comp for it to work?

if it helps, this is what i was looking at:
http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-FOS-MR8MKII.html#
or
http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-ZOO-MRS8.html
or
http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-TAS-DP01.html

Answer 1

If you don't already have a card reader, you can get one like this:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Mobile-Edge-12-in-1-Card-Reader-USB-Hub-MEACR1/sem/rpsm/oid/172035/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
Actually, that one is a reader AND a USB hub.

What happens is, you plug the card (sD, CompactFlash, stick, or whatever) into this unit and plug the reader into your PC with a USB port, and the card from the recorder will appear as a new hard drive on your PC! You then use Explorer or any other program (like Media Monkey or something) to copy the file onto your regular hard drive and then edit or play it or whatever. It's just like an MP3 player (unless you have an iPod, in which case only iTunes will work with it).

Answer 2

CF Cards are memory cards.
If your PC does not have a built-in CF card reader you can buy a USB-based multi-card reader (9-to-1, 5-to-1, etc.), they are pretty cheap.
Most PCs will automatically recognize USB mass-storage devices and you can simply use the windows file explorer to copy the files to your computer from the CF card.