Here's a shortcut I stumbled on tonite, experimenting:
I use a Canon EOS 300D to take multiple images of DSOs. My memory card holds 1 GB of data. The camera comes with a cable to download the images from the memory card onto a PC.
On average. I take 50-60 shots in one session, download them, then use DeepSkyStacker to stack them - the results are (to me, anyway) awesome.
Problem was, however, that it took ages to download all those images using the supplied cable. So, I bought a cheap ($35 or so) card reader from Dick Smith, remove the memory card after each session, stick the card into the reader and connect the reader to the PC.
Download speed increased dramatically, about 5 times as fast as via a cable alone.
Worth the $35 if you dont like waiting!
Mick