I think the poster read my rant in Apple Forums or in a Yahoo Group... there are more specifics so here goes:

iPad and USB/SD cards:

This is great and important news as it will allow you to expand your iPad greatly....

But first a problem: this happened in the OS upgrade iOS4.2 (both of these functions worked under 3.2: Apple fxxxed up)

First the bad news:

1. With the USB camera adapter most people can no longer use a memory stick (flash drive) Why?

Apple reduced the power allowance in the dock port from 100ma to 20ma in their software update iOS 4.2

Plug a 16GB memory stick in there with your pix or movies you get: "This device uses too much power"

Thousands of people that were using these flash drives on the iPads with OS3.2 & now can't use these expensive devices.. but if you happen to have a powered USB hub?

The only thing you can do to help solve this problem is leave feedback @ Apple: please do it: http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html

Now the Good News and how it affects YOU:

2. You can use the other adapter that comes with the kit (the SD card reader)... but I've tried doing this for 2 days. Movies and pix were not recognized by the iPad. Why?

All media software triggers an application by its affix (like .jpg and .mp4)... but most software in the last 10 years easily converted .jpeg to .jpg: not the iPad OS (for now).

Hold on.. only three things to make it work... and this is truly insane:

1. All affixes can be no more than 3 letters/digits (e.g. no ".jpeg") So jpg, raw, mp4, mov, mv4 are ok. If you have anything named .jpeg you'll have to rename it (remove the "e").

Note: .pdf also works! So this is workaround is not just for media... you can upload and delete documents in .pdf format all without a computer.

2. All media must be inside a folder on the SD card named: DCIM

3. Here's where you hold on: NO FILE NAME CAN BE MORE or LESS THAN 8 LETTERS/DIGITS and NO SPACES (yep Mike is shouting!)

I had a movie project named Gay Baby. That name won't work.

Gay Baby must be renamed GayBaby1.mp4 (count em... 7 letters and 1 digit for
the title with no spaces and 3 letters/digits for the suffix/filetype)

If you don't change it... it will not be recognized. Remember: 8 character minimum and maximum!

OK... so now you can use 1, 2, 4, 16, 32, 64GB SD cards (and hopefully Apple fixes the power restriction problem for Flash drive use)

... but when you follow this protocol ... where do your movies, photos & documents go on your iPad?

They all go into Photos... yes even the movies & .pdf's go into Photos.

So what's really cool about this is that you can load movies onto your SD card, import them one at a time or multiple... and guess what? Then delete them after watching.. then load another: All without a computer... and that's the main point.

Want to thank me for 2 days of research? Click the feedback thingy above and tell Apple to restore the power!

Mikesreach

Yes! With my 10-minutes of research I found that USB sticks did not work, hence my hint about SD cards.

I also forgot to mention about the necessary filename extensions. Thanks for that.