Linux doesn't care what the device actually is- it just sees something that holds alot of data and the mass-storage driver is how it gets it. I mount my digital still camera, copy the files to wherever and then use something like gphoto to view them. This way my camera is only on for a little while- as long as it takes to copy the files. You could go to www.debian.org and have a look at what they have for viewers if you don't like/can't use gphoto.