05-29-2003, 10:30 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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xD Picks Up Support
"Memory developers Lexar Media and SanDisk have agreed to sell the emerging xD-Picture Card, a removable flash memory card format that's gaining traction by riding on the popularity of digital cameras. Lexar Media and SanDisk on Monday separately announced that they will support the xD-Picture Card format, which was developed and is owned by Olympus Optical, FujiFilm and Toshiba. The format was introduced in the fourth quarter of last year and has gained modest ground due to the amount of digital cameras sold by Olympus and FujiFilm, according to Chris Chute, an analyst with research firm IDC. Digital cameras use removable flash memory to store digital photos."
Argh! :evil: xD is the one format worse than Memory Stick, in my opinion. I for one will studiously avoid any xD product as long as I can. I have many 6-in-1 readers all over the place, and I'm not interested, in the slightest, in picking up a bunch of 7-in-1 readers, and, in my opinion, the relative lack of them shows the rest of the market's unhappiness at the invention of this format. Quite frankly, this is why the floppy drive is not disappearing -- there are too many incompatible flash formats, and this number is increasing, not decreasing. Thumbs up to most of the Pocket PC OEMs, which have nicely standardized on two formats: CF for the larger components, and SD for the smaller ones. Now, let's see SDIO uniformly implemented in all devices... :way to go:
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05-29-2003, 10:40 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 361
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Amen. I love my Smartmedia-based Olympus camera, but damnit I won't upgrade because of the xD blunder.
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05-29-2003, 10:41 PM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 5,133
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Re: xD Picks Up Support
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Originally Posted by Janak Parekh
Quite frankly, this is why the floppy drive is not disappearing -- there are too many incompatible flash formats, and this number is increasing, not decreasing.
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I think that USB flash drives will replace floppies, not flash cards. Mainly because you can use them now with an awful lot of computers, whereas for flash cards you'd actualy have to add readers for those that don't have them already. It's a little more convenient in laptops where you can get a PCMCIA adapter, but PCs don't generally come standard with this. So I think it'll be the USB drives.
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05-29-2003, 10:43 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Re: xD Picks Up Support
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Originally Posted by kati42
I think that USB flash drives will replace floppies, not flash cards.
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This still sucks, though, as a format. You can't use your USB flash drive in your PDA, your camera, or your MP3 player. CF or SD would be ideal, but it hasn't taken off, except in laptops. 
--janak
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05-29-2003, 10:47 PM
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Swami
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 4,303
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Quote:
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CF for the larger components, and SD for the smaller ones.
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Yup, that's the way to go. Standardise & grow the pie. Death to all inferior formats! :evil:
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05-29-2003, 10:57 PM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 5,133
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Re: xD Picks Up Support
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Originally Posted by Janak Parekh
This still sucks, though, as a format. You can't use your USB flash drive in your PDA, your camera, or your MP3 player. CF or SD would be ideal, but it hasn't taken off, except in laptops. |
Well, you're not looking for a direct replacement for the floppy, then, as PDAs, mp3s and most cameras don't use floppies. You want an all-encompassing removeable storage solution. That'll be a while to get everyone to agree.
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05-29-2003, 11:00 PM
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Oracle
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 864
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Re: xD Picks Up Support
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Originally Posted by Janak Parekh
This still sucks, though, as a format. You can't use your USB flash drive in your PDA, your camera, or your MP3 player. CF or SD would be ideal, but it hasn't taken off, except in laptops.
--janak |
That's where things like the Cruzer come into play bridge the 2.
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05-29-2003, 11:05 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 361
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LOL, anyone notice you all used quotes? Geez, especially after today's frontpage post
Jason will come get you with a big stick! :twak:
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05-29-2003, 11:06 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 481
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Re: xD Picks Up Support
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Originally Posted by Janak Parekh
... I'm not interested, in the slightest, in picking up a bunch of 7-in-1 readers, and, in my opinion, the relative lack of them shows the rest of the market's unhappiness at the invention of this format. ...
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I had also noticed a lack of xD readers and converters (at retail, at least), then when I finally saw a CF>xD adapter, the extremely high price made me wonder: Are there a lot more smarts needed to make that conversion, or are the xD "standards" people reaping huge royalties off this (and these royalties are being used to incent adoption)? At any rate, there may not ever be $20 7-in-1 readers (with xD as 7, that is; there's always memory stick pro, mini SD, etc., etc.).
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Originally Posted by Janak Parekh
Quite frankly, this is why the floppy drive is not disappearing -- there are too many ...
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I have never understood why people have such a wish for the demise of the floppy drive. Don't like it? then don't use it. Really don't like it? Take it out. Why does it always generate so much discussion?
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05-29-2003, 11:07 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Re: xD Picks Up Support
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Originally Posted by entropy1980
That's where things like the Cruzer come into play bridge the 2. |
OK, the Cruzer comes close as a workaround; I'll buy that. I've never tried to boot off one, though; has anyone succeeded in doing so? And is there any way to buy a Cruzer without the memory card?
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Originally Posted by kagayaki1
LOL, anyone notice you all used quotes? Geez, especially after today's frontpage post
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:? Uhm, note that my quotes are properly formatted and nicely trimmed. Reread Ed's post and the thread ensuing below...
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Originally Posted by PPCRules
I have never understood why people have such a wish for the demise of the floppy drive. Don't like it? then don't use it. Really don't like it? Take it out. Why does it always generate so much discussion?
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It's not that I want the floppy drive gone in and of itself (well, I do, but that's less important), but rather I'd like to see a new standardized format. I carry my Pocket PC with a 512MB SD card everywhere, and I'd like to be able to pop that out and put it into a computer at a customer's site, for example. We need new, larger-capacity universal storage formats. The Zip drive came close at one point, but it's sputtered since. That's the whole point we're trying to make. The Cruzer, as aforementioned, comes very, very close to providing this need. At least it's built on SD and not xD. 
--janak
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