CardMaster USB
The CardMaster USB: (Category Other Programmers & Interfaces)
This is the CardMaster USB programmer:
Please make sure that you insert the cards with the contacts facing UP.
The CardMaster USB is very compact. It is certainly the flattest fully encased programmer I have seen to date. It is not a fancy design. Just plain functionality. The finish of the enclosure is good, but not top-notch. An USB cable is included (fixed to the programmer). I was unable to determine the quality/finish of the PCB, because unlike most other encased programmers, this one is not screwed, but glued shut.
The absence of a serial interface also means that the programmer does not support a Phoenix mode but, according to the manufacturer, that is being worked on. Anyhow, as for the moment, editing your MOSC cards, or updating only the eeprom on a card (with ISVedit for instance) is not possible yet with this programmer. In fact, you will have to use the CardMaster software for this programmer to get it to work. That should not really be a problem though. CardMaster supports more card types than any other programmer software I have come across. Just look at this impressive list of cards:
I must point out though that the list is somewhat optimistic, as the Penta Card and the Titanium card cannot be programmed with the current software. It is expected to arrive with the next version of the software. Still, with the CardMaster USB you really have got a wide variety of cards that you can program. And on top of that, it performs well above average when it comes to programming speeds. Mind you, I don't own all of these cards, so I was unable to test if they all work. However, I have tested many of them and all cards were programmed properly as from software version 3.12.
Previous versions of CardMaster suffered from stability problems every now and then. But since version 3.12 I have found no more awkward behaviour. I tested extensively on Windows 98 SE and on Windows XP Pro and I encountered no serious problems. The only problem that I had, is that my Zen card is not recognized by the software when I let the software determine the card type automatically. Now I have only got 1 Zen card, so I cannot test it with another one to see if it is my card, or the software that is to blame in this case. Fortunately, you are not confined to Auto Detection ;) if I select the proper card type myself, it will program the card without problems.
Then there is a big promise made which should soon be released. I am referring to the Software Developers Kit (SDK). With such a SDK, software developers are able to write their own software and integrate the programming function of the CardMaster USB in that application.
My conclusion:
The CardMaster USB is a programmer with above average performance and offering support a wider variety of cards than any other non-Universal programmer I know. If you are interested in programming a card, and do not want to edit directly on the card itself, then this programmer is certainly worth a good look. But also for the specialist user that wants to incorporate programming capabilities in its own application, this might be a nice alternative, as soon as the SDK is available.