The problem could be that the camera is a USB 1.1 device, but an inexpensive card reader and a computer that's less than 4-5 years old should both be USB 2.0. That will get you download speeds many times faster than USB 1.1. If either the computer or the device plugged into it is USB 1.1, it's the weak link of the chain so you get slower downloads. Plus, with the card reader you won't use the camera's batteries.