Portable download unit including a memory chip-to-CD burner

1. An apparatus comprising:

a portable housing;

an input port operative to receive digital image data;

an optical disc reader/writer (R/W) unit operative to write digital image data received from the input port to a removable optical disc and to read digital image data from said optical disc, wherein the R/W unit is operative to write digital image data corresponding to the displayed image to the optical disc in response to a second user command and to write all digital image data contained on a memory chip to the optical disc in response to a third user command;

a display device; and

an image processing unit operative to retrieve digital image data from the input port and from the optical disc and process said data for display on the display device, wherein the image processing unit is operative to selectively process and display one of a plurality of images from the digital image data received via the input port in response to a first user command.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a portable power supply.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus weighs less than about five pounds.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the input port comprises a receptacle adapted to receive a memory device including the memory chip containing the digital image information.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the memory card comprises a flash card.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the input port comprises an input/output port adapted to receive a cable.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the optical disc comprises a rewritable compact disc.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the optical disc comprises a DVD-RAM disc.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the image processing unit is operative to selectively process and display one of a plurality of images from the digital image data received from the input port in response to a user command.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a wireless transmitter operative to transmit digital image data from the optical disc to a remote device via a wireless communication link.

11. A portable download device comprising:

a portable housing having a maximum side length of less than about eight inches;

a memory card port adapted to receive a memory card including a memory chip operative to store digital image data;

a memory chip reader operative to read digital image data from the memory chip and to reset the memory chip for reuse in response to a user command, wherein the R/W unit is operative to write digital image data corresponding to the displayed image to the optical disc in response to a second user command and to write all digital image data contained on the memory chip to the optical disc in response to a third user command;

an optical disc reader/writer (R/W) unit operative to write digital image data received from the memory chip to a removable optical disc and to read digital image data from said optical disc;

a liquid crystal display; and

an image processing unit operative to retrieve digital image data from the input port and from the optical disc and process said data for display on the display device, wherein the image processing unit is operative to selectively process and display one of a plurality of images from the digital image data received from the memory chip reader in response to a first user command.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the R/W unit comprises a compact disc R/W unit.

13. The device of claim 11 , further comprising a wireless transmitter operative to transmit digital image data from the optical disc to a remote device via a wireless communication link.

14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the wireless communication link comprises a Bluetooth connection.

15. The device of claim 11 , wherein the R/W unit comprises a DVD-RAM disc.