Pretec Readies 1GB MMC Card

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.pretec.com/PR/PR_1GB%20MMC%20%20010804.pdf">http://www.pretec.com/PR/PR_1GB%20MMC%20%20010804.pdf</a><br /><br /><i><a href="http://www.adobe.com">Adobe Reader</a> required for above link.</i> It seems MMC cards are alive and well. Pretec demonstrated a 1GB MMC card at CES last week. Personally, I'd rather see MMC take the lead over SD simply because SD cards cost more and to date, I haven't seen <i>anyone</i> use the "S" - or secure - feature. Instead, companies rely on software driven digital rights management.<br /><br />There is no price yet.

[David Prahl]

Personally, I'd rather see MMC take the lead over SD simply because SD cards cost more and to date

Do we know what kind of price range to expect? Similar to a 1 GB SD, or significantly less?

[shawnc]

I NEVER use the "secure" part of SD. I simply want reliable storage, no more, no less. If a 1g mmc will be less than the ridiculously absurd prices I've heard regarding the soon-to-be released sandisk sd card, then bring on mmc :multi: .

[joelevi]

Personally, I'd rather see MMC take the lead over SD simply because SD cards cost more and to date

I just got this pic from a friend who attended CES... all I can say is "WOW!" 8O

http://www.JoeLevi.com/picts/cards.jpg

From what I understand, CES doesn't allow things to be displayed that won't be available in the same calendar year... I could be wrong, but an 8GB SD card by year end? WOW!!!!

[Duncan]

Of course this also demonstrates why the Compact Flash card is far from dead - 24GB!!!!!! 8O

[Ed Hansberry]

From what I understand, CES doesn't allow things to be displayed that won't be available in the same calendar year... No, I don't think that is true. The OQO has been there before and still not shipping and the dataplay optical discs were there at least 2 years before being released and allowed to languish.

[David Prahl]

Egad! :jawdrop:




(whipes drool from mouth, remembers to breathe)

Anyone want a review? :lol:

[JustinGTP]

Wow - 24gb CF card - makes my Ipaq 2215 and me happy :D

[David Prahl]

Is there a storage card limit for the FAT the PPC uses? By the way, what does it use? FAT16? 32?

[rudolph]

I believe FAT16's limit is 2gb, so it must use FAT32.

[David Prahl]

Which do you guys find more impressive - the 8 GB SD or 24 GB CF?

[wizardmaster2k]

i totally afgrre with shawnc, all i want is simple storage, no security or other special features. i have said this before. that is why i still think cf is the best storage media right now, it is fast and reliable, as well as simple storage. i like mmc and would like to see it take its side next to cf (mmc/cf).

[theone3]

David; I think both are equally impressive.

[David Prahl]

Why does the 24GB CF just say "Compact" and the Memory Sticks don't mention "Magic Gate" technology?

[theone3]

Hmm.. I wonder why the company's called "atomdisk"

A new type of storage? (eg. expensive ;))

[foldedspace]

Excellent. I wonder how well it might work in my N-Gage?

[ctmagnus]

24GB!

One of these days I'm gonna get that 2210. Mostly for Nevo, but I digress (and cave... 24GB of pure audio delight!)

[Craig Horlacher]

As mentioned before, nobody on earth uses the security features of SD and for every sd device sold royalty goes to Panasonic - that's why they always cost more than MMC which was developed as a (more/less I guess) open standard.

Man, 24GB CF or 8GB SD...I don't know which is more impressive to me. Is that CF type I or II in the picture? Either way, right now I could use that cf:)

btw...you're right fat 16 does have a 2GB limit per file system so it would have to be partitioned. I've never even heard of partitioning flash media but I guess you can. I know some large flash media use fat 32.

[Jonathon Watkins]

Double yikes! Now THAT is impressive if they both come next year.
:huh: :jawdrop: :huh: :jawdrop:

I have a feeling it will a few years later before any of us actually buy one. I can't wait to see the prices! :crazyeyes:

[Janak Parekh]

I just got this pic from a friend who attended CES... all I can say is "WOW!" 8O
Yes. But who's to say that these aren't just labels on pieces of plastic? Sony's shown concept Memory Sticks for years, for example... I seriously doubt 8GB on a SD is going to happen in the next year. That's several orders of magnitude from where we are now. If it's technically feasible, the cost'll be prohibitive anyway...

--janak

[kzemach]

Does anyone here have any information on the allegedly impending "new SD" format? I had read about it in a digital camera forum/news article a few months ago; I recall is was some SD-compatible card, but smaller form factor, I'm guessing to compete more directly with the small XD cards. Like we need another form factor, or even a card smaller than SD/MMC....

Anyway, any users here have any links or information on the status? I'd like to stay aware...

Ken

[Janak Parekh]

Does anyone here have any information on the allegedly impending "new SD" format? I had read about it in a digital camera forum/news article a few months ago; I recall is was some SD-compatible card, but smaller form factor, I'm guessing to compete more directly with the small XD cards. Like we need another form factor, or even a card smaller than SD/MMC....
Are you talking about MiniSD (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13053)?

--janak

[Len M.]

If I recall correctly, SD is considerably faster than MMC because it can do four bit parallel transfers while MMC is limited to one.

Pretec has previously announced that they expect to issue a 12 GB CF card this year.


Len Moskowitz
Core Sound
www.core-sound.com

[Len M.]

I tracked down Atomchip. It's not a flash memory card but rather...

[Begin]

The chip has a much higher capacity when compared with Flash memory, has the lowest cost per 1GB. Get faster speed for all the things you do. This is the ideal replacement for lower capacity memory: greater ruggedness, reliability and faster response. Now you can capture those high-resolution images and high-definition movies even faster! Do it all with low power consumption, which means longer battery life. This new technology is based on the magnetic quantum-optical phenomenon in porous silicon, entitled after the name of its discoverer "Gendlin Effect". U.S. Patent 5,841,689. The selling price: $150 per 1GB.

[End]

And more:

[Begin]

Products built according to this "Quantum-Optical " technology have passed commercialization testing, during which process prototypical products were subjected to a variety of detrimental conditions. Prototypical products were tested for over two years for reliability of information storage. Some prototypes were tested in dynamic mode (constant cycle "read-only" and constant cycle "read-write"). Other prototypes were tested in static mode (for retention of earlier recorded information after disconnection of electricity. In other words they were tested for non-volatility) with various temperatures. Currently the technology is fully commercialized.

...

NvIOpSRAM for 256GB has the selling price of $50.00 per 1GB.

[End]

Their Web site: http://www.atomchip.com/

What's odd is that the principals of this company all have optonline email addresses rather than ones associated with their company.

Here's a short article about what folks saw at CES:

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/ces20047.htm


Len Moskowitz
Core Sound
www.core-sound.com

[kzemach]

Does anyone here have any information on the allegedly impending "new SD" format? I had read about it in a digital camera forum/news article a few months ago; I recall is was some SD-compatible card, but smaller form factor, I'm guessing to compete more directly with the small XD cards. Like we need another form factor, or even a card smaller than SD/MMC....
Are you talking about MiniSD (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13053)?

--janak

That's the one! Thanks for the link.

[beq]

Wow on that quantum-optical technology... how come we haven't heard more about it? As quoted from Len's above Howstuffworks link:

"So, either this is like cold fusion and it's a hoax, or we are about to see a fundamental paradigm shift that completely redefines the nature of computer storage. A typical hard-disk bay could hold many terabytes of this Quantum-Optical memory."

[beq]

As mentioned above, MMC is slower than optimal SD interface. Does that mean any MMC card cannot possibly compete with the speed of today's "5x-speed" (10MB/sec) high-speed SD cards?? Which is unfortunate...

OT: This becomes more apparent when you're looking to buy devices such as the new Kyocera Finecam SL300R ultracompact digicam (3.2MP, 3X-zoom). Besides being thinnest in its category and having Nikon-like swivel-lens, this cam's biggest draw is its Rapid Tuning Technology that does away with "slow power-up, long shutter-delay times, and sluggish response" but requires a 10MB/sec high-speed SD card. It supposedly provides continuous (not burst) 3.5fps shooting at max resolution -- or 30fps VGA video+sound -- up to the SD card capacity (with &lt;1sec power-on time)!

Reviews:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1397966,00.asp
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/sl300r.html
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read_opinions.asp?prodkey=kyocera_sl300r

P.S. They're also releasing a special edition called CONTAX SL300R T*:
http://global.kyocera.com/news/2003/1106.html
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1001&amp;message=6891180

[JustinGTP]

Well, look at what Atom Chip has on their website!

http://www.atomchip.com/db4/00366/atomchip.com/_uimages/256GB-Proportion.jpg

255.52GB Hard Disk Drive!

Wow!

-Justin.

[JustinGTP]

And look at this in regards to what is "new media for 2004"

http://www.atomchip.com/_wsn/page4.html

They say they will have a 4GB SD Card out and a 8GB Compact Flash card out.

So that isnt too impressive for the CF card as there is already a 4GB out.

-Justin.

[ctmagnus]

Well, look at what Atom Chip has on their website!

http://www.atomchip.com/db4/00366/atomchip.com/_uimages/256GB-Proportion.jpg

255.52GB Hard Disk Drive!

Wow!

-Justin.

Kinda like this (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22891&highlight=wantee). ;)

And it looks like they could up the resolution on that monitor a bit as well.

[Len M.]

An 8 GB CF card would be impressive if they can really meet a $50 per GB price. $400 for 8 GB of fast memory would be a fine price for introduction of a new technology. The 4 GB CF flash memory cards started out at over $1200.


Len Moskowitz
Core Sound
www.core-sound.com

[Kowalski]

SD is considerably faster than MMC because it can do four bit parallel transfers while MMC is limited to one
if i am wrong please somebody correct me:
SD cards uses 4 bit data bus for I/O purposes only and when it comes to data only 1 bit bus is used. am i wrong?