Flash-Memory Bargains Bloom

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,110925,tk,dn060503X,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article...n060503X,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div>"Want extra flash memory for your MP3 player, digital camera or PDA? You're in luck. Prices are dropping fast, thanks to heated competition between makers. And high-capacity products--holding up to 4GB--will soon debut. How much can you save? At the beginning of 2002, 256MB Secure Digital cards sold for roughly $200; forthcoming 512MB and 1GB SD cards (expected by this fall) will carry suggested retail prices of $170 and $330, says Gartner analyst Joe Unsworth."<br /><br />Nothing but good news for consumers who want big memory cards! I wish that they'd keep producing smaller cards though and make the costs really low. I'd be interested in picking up a six pack of 16 MB cards that I could use like floppy disks and not really care if I lost them.

[ricksfiona]

I'm holding out for the 1GB SD cards. With that much capacity, I can do whatever I want (movie, MP3, data) and not worry about it. Now that I got a USB 2.0 6 - 1 reader, moving data back and forth is a piece of cake.

[garrans]

I'd be interested in picking up a six pack of 16 MB cards that I could use like floppy disks and not really care if I lost them

I suspect its not a matter of not wanting to do that, it's probably more along the lines of either:

a) Manufacturing Capacity requires they use the production lines on items in higher demand.

b) At the low end, the cost differential between 16MB & 32MB cards is so small it may only mean $5-$10 at the consumer (once everybody has put their markup in)

Steve.

[Kiyoshi]

When will SD cards catch up with the cheap CF format? I bought my 256MB SD card for $50, and I could get a 256MB CF card for $35 (But I use my CF slot for Wi-Fi most of the time). And I think it'd be cool to use cheap memory cards as next-gen floppy disks. Problem is, you wouldn't have enough room on the card to label it!

[nobody]

Problem is, you wouldn't have enough room on the card to label it!

Why not use the system I used: . for "there is something important" and no dot for "there is nothing important"! :lol:

[heov]

When will SD cards catch up with the cheap CF format? I bought my 256MB SD card for $50, and I could get a 256MB CF card for $35 (But I use my CF slot for Wi-Fi most of the time). And I think it'd be cool to use cheap memory cards as next-gen floppy disks. Problem is, you wouldn't have enough room on the card to label it!

SD cards will get cheaper, but probably never as cheap as CF. CF is an open standard, SD is not. SD is a lot like MS; the proprietors choose how much they want to charge to license it.

BTW, is memory stick still the leading flash memory format in the market, or did SD catchup?

[Kati Compton]

Why not use the system I used: . for "there is something important" and no dot for "there is nothing important"! :lol:
Do you color-code your dots according to the type of important data? Or the degree to which it is important?

[Timothy Rapson]

I saw here a month or two ago that Dell was selling a six pack of 256 MB CF cards for $100 (or was it $150, whatever it was CHEAP)

I think we will soon see the 1.5 Gig 1 inch hard disk that Hitachi or someone is planning to sell for as little as $50. That would put all the Flash memory sellers on the market back into over capacity if they get one into a CF slot like the IBM ones. And of course, there is the IBM hd itself along with Toshiba's plans for 5-10 gig hds.

I was pretty sure last Christmas that by now someone would be shipping a PDA with 256 or more MB of flash right on the mother board. I still don't know why that hasn't happened. It must frustrate a lot of users to get a PDA home and find out that the music and video most PDAs promise today is not really practical until you fork out ANOTHER $50+ for a decent sized memory card. They seem cheap to us, but for someone buying his first PDA, say a $175 Axim, it is probably a significantly negative initial experience.

[bkerrins]

I'm looking for car stereos to support SD or CF cards. The thought of putting a CD in the stereo already seems arkane to me. I would much rather be able to slot 3 or 4 SD cards into my car stereo and have it play Gigs of MP3, share with friends in the car (no more carrying a condom in your wallet, just an SD card with your favorite MP3's on it).

[Jason Dunn]

BTW, is memory stick still the leading flash memory format in the market, or did SD catchup?

Last I heard, CF is #1, SD is #2, MS is #3. Where did you read that MS was #1? 8O

[theon]

[quote=Kiyoshi]BTW, is memory stick still the leading flash memory format in the market, or did SD catchup?

When did Memory Stick become the leading format? 8O

[Paul Martin]

I'm looking for car stereos to support SD or CF cards. The thought of putting a CD in the stereo already seems arkane to me

Kind of funny...I was just thinking about that as I was driving into work this moring. I had a file on my CF card that I wanted to listen to and couldn't find my cassette adapter for the car stereo. I'm surprised someone hasn't done it already, at least Sony with their Memory sticks.

[kagayaki1]

I'm looking for car stereos to support SD or CF cards. The thought of putting a CD in the stereo already seems arkane to me.

Yeah, there's nothing really technologically holding them back. Most MP3 in-dash units read the files very fast and have good systems for navigating the files, even if they're buried in layers of folders. Mostly, I have a feeling this has to do with widespread adoption. A memory format would seriously have to dominate to make it happen.

Truthfully, we're more likely to see a ton of DVD music players first.

[Mark Johnson]

I'm looking for car stereos to support SD or CF cards.

The Panasonic CQ-SRX7000 car stereo head unit cd player does this. I saw it at Comdex 2001. It has a SD slot hidden behind the fold-down faceplate. Very cool.

[Timothy Rapson]

CF/MS/SD cards in a car stereo? What a great idea. All it would take is a set of slots like they put on printers these days, or even more simple, a USB port on the front where you could plug in your own USB card reader. One port, all formats. You might even just hook your PPC to the stereo like you hook it to your computer and just like ActiveSync you could.......oops I see a problem........

[ctmagnus]

I'm looking for car stereos to support SD or CF cards.

The newer Jaguars (among other high-end brands) have in-dash color LCDs. Get a reader that supports booting and you could be running Windows XP Embedded in your car! Get sick of Windows and pop in a different card running whatever other OS you want.

I dream of the day that removable storage of this form factor is used or everything, by everyone.