Iomega's Mini 1.5GB Disks

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.forbes.com/home/2003/07/24/cx_ah_0724tentech.html?partner=newscom' target='_blank'>http://www.forbes.com/home/2003/07/...partner=newscom</a><br /><br /></div>Iomega isn't completely out of the market yet. They've developed a technology that might supercede the initial promise of the <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=913">DataPlay </a> that we talked about some time ago -- and this one has a chance to make it to market in 2004.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20030724-iomega.jpg" /><br /><br />"Iomega has dubbed its new technology DCT for Digital Capture Technology, and it consists mainly of removable matchbook-sized discs. At first the discs look almost identical to the old PocketZip discs that formed the basis of Iomega's ill-advised foray into the MP3 music-player business way back in 2001. What's new is the capacity of the DCT discs, which tops out at 1.5 gigabytes versus the 100 megabytes of the PocketZip days."

[lbcox]

I still have several of the old Zip discs. I wonder if the new discs will fit the PC card. That would be a novelty since companies rarely do that. I'm not sure if I would buy any because I remember how much my battery drained when using it. Albeit batteries, as I'm sure this disc technology, have improved..... it still spins.... and that takes power.

[blueshirt80]

I'm not an expert but when did pocket zip disks come in 100MB size? I only remeber the 40MB size...

[Cortex]

theyre dead...

who wants a proprietary reader for the disk when you can use CF or SD in many more devices?

[Dave Beauvais]

I was about to ask the same thing. I know Iomega claimed they would be coming out with 100 MB disks, but I never saw larger than 40 MB. I still have an old Click! PC Card drive sealed up in a box. Complete with slick little metal case and one disk. I bought two when a local store was closing them out for $10 a couple years ago. I used one of them exactly two times and never did anything with the other. The unopened box still sits on a shelf in the closet, a silent casualty of the flash media invasion. :)

--Dave

[Mitch D]

It was Iomega's proprietary technology that has doomed previous drives they have come out with. iomega needs to learn that most people are not interested in "platter" based storage systems. Between the USB based memory devices that store up to a GB now a days and things like CF and SD that are also at a GB why would anyone jump at something like this? :frusty:

[beq]

Iomega IS also selling all sorts of standards-based storage products as anyone can see, but I get the feeling being just another undistinguished seller among the crowd didn't win it much business.. they must still be pining for the good ol' Zip days...

[johncruise]

http://www.iomega.com/about/prreleases/2001/100mb_pocketzip.html

I don't think they were released. Otherwise, it would be listed here (http://www.iomega.com/direct/products/category.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=4971&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=55315&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=63191&bmUID=1059097366172)

I do hope the 1.5G would be compatible with the ol PocketZip/pc card adapter (http://www.johncruise.com/pocketpc/images/storage-iomega-pocketzip-003.jpg).

[sambeckett]

theyre dead...

who wants a proprietary reader for the disk when you can use CF or SD in many more devices?

agreed.

[Dave Beauvais]

...I do hope the 1.5G would be compatible with the ol PocketZip/pc card adapter (http://www.johncruise.com/pocketpc/images/storage-iomega-pocketzip-003.jpg).
I seriously doubt that would be possible. Even if it could physically work and the read/write head could read the new media, they'd probably design it in such a way that you'd be forced to buy all new equipment so they can try to make some money off of this before the product fails in the market.

Damn, I've gotten cynical in my old age. :)

--Dave

[T-Will]

WHOO HOO! ANOTHER STANDARD, JUST WHAT WE NEED! WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF IT! OH COOL MOVING PARTS! MORE MOBILE DEVICE MANUFACTURERS SHOULD START PUTTING MOVING PARTS INTO THEIR MOBILE DEVICES BECAUSE MOVING PARTS ARE COOL ESPECIALLY IN MOBILE DEVICES! :frusty:

[Pony99CA]

Iomega isn't completely out of the market yet. They've developed a technology that might supercede the initial promise of the DataPlay (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=913) that we talked about some time ago -- and this one has a chance to make it to market in 2004.
I don't know. My take is that, unless it is a lot cheaper than current technologies, this will flop. They claim that DCT is fast, low-power and high-capacity. However, you can get 1 GB Compact Flash cards for under $250 now, and Lexar's professional 2 GB card is under $700. With no moving parts in Compact Flash media, I'd think durability isn't an issue. Even if DCT is faster than Compact Flash, I think DCT will still need to be priced less than Compact Flash to gain momentum.

The other hope would be that they boost the capacity much higher. A 5 or 10 GB device in a package the size of a CF card could have a chance -- if it's not too expensive.

Steve

[Pony99CA]

WHOO HOO! ANOTHER STANDARD, JUST WHAT WE NEED! WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF IT! OH COOL MOVING PARTS! MORE MOBILE DEVICE MANUFACTURERS SHOULD START PUTTING MOVING PARTS INTO THEIR MOBILE DEVICES BECAUSE MOVING PARTS ARE COOL ESPECIALLY IN MOBILE DEVICES! :frusty:
Yeah, because nobody with PDAs bought MicroDrives or PC Card drives. And no laptop or tablet PCs have hard disks or CD drives. Oh, yeah, and they've stopped producing iPods, too. :roll:

Seriously, as my previous post said, I don't think this will take off unless the capacity is much better for about the same cost as CF memory or unless the cost is much less for the same memory. But don't dismiss something just because it has moving parts.

Steve

[caywen]

First, the form factor is wrong. 2" is a lot in the mobile world. It means they won't be able to tap the future smartphone market, nor will they even be able to touch the PDA market. Most PDA's don't even have space for a CF slot, much less for a 2" disc with drive electronics (and motors, drive heads, springs, etc).

So maybe that leaves the ultrathin laptop / tablet PC market? I severely doubt they'll make much headway in this market as 802.11 and Bluetooth are much more convenient ways to transport data. Even if they do get 100% of this market, it's such a tiny market anyways.

So what about the PC market? Well, people like their uber-cheap CD-RW's. CDRW made Zip its bitch, and it will do the same to this format. With 1.5GB DVD 8cm DVD-RW's around the corner, there's not much impetus to go with something totally non-standard.

I suspect they'll get one or two MP3 players going. But they won't be able to match the quality or maturity of minidisc. Sony had like 15 years to refine the format, and now you can buy players barely bigger than a minidisc itself.

It's a pity, because I really really like the idea of a 1.5GB R/W disc. IMO, the PC's format sucks. I'd like to see the home PC shrink a lot, and I'd like to see the death of discs the side of a CD or DVD (they are HUGE, when you think about it).

[T-Will]

Yeah, because nobody with PDAs bought MicroDrives or PC Card drives. And no laptop or tablet PCs have hard disks or CD drives. Oh, yeah, and they've stopped producing iPods, too. :roll:

Seriously, as my previous post said, I don't think this will take off unless the capacity is much better for about the same cost as CF memory or unless the cost is much less for the same memory. But don't dismiss something just because it has moving parts.

Steve

Ok, you got me there... :oops: But still, the less moving parts=less likely it will break and less moving parts=better battery life.

[Kaber]

If they made it work in a CF slot and it was cheap I'd buy it. Put some movies on it.

[KayMan2k]

People will buy this because it will be cheaper (much cheaper) than a 1GB CF Card. You would need to purchase the reader first (PCMCIA? CF? I got a 5550, don't really care...) which might be around $200 but then each disk probably costs $20-30. So in the long run a its cheaper.. specially if you want to get a bunch of movies/mp3s for a long trip.

Dataplay works in a CF card doesn't it? I think it will work at least in PCMICIA form.. or maybe even external bluetooth adaptor? It won't earn any merit in the camera indsutry though.. its probbably just too slow.

[danmanmayer]

Well if they can make ti adaptable to things like compact type2 via converter.. then maybe. I mean i love 1.5 gb that small i want it now but a device that only supports Iomega... um no!

[grogma]

I remember when Iomega first announced the Click drive. At the time 40MB was a lot and the price of 40MB of CF was sufficient to make one seriously consider the Click. Unfortunately the Click took a long long time to bring to market and it took even longer to appear in PC Card format and by the time it did the cost of a Click disk was pretty close to the cost of the price of 40MB of CF (not to mention the cost of the drive), very few handhelds (or digital cameras or MP3 players) had a PC Card slot and the Click wasn't compatible with them and few dealers ever stocked either the drive or the media. It was effectively stillborn. I got three of the drives at various times as convention tshotchkes. I tried one in my laptop. It worked. Woot. Then into the sock drawer it went next to the 340MB Microdrive. IF Iomega can remain in business long enough for this to hit the market AND they can put together a CF drive that supports the media AND the media is relatively cheap (say 30% of the cost of the same capacity CF) AND the media is reasonably robust AND the drive is reasonably cheap (~$100) AND the drive makes it to the retail shelves by, say, Q2 of next year AND the flash industry stays fairly static in terms of pricing and capacity between now and then AND a reasonable percentage Pocket PCs continue to be released that support the CF format then they MIGHT have a shot at selling a few.
Having been there and done that several times over I'd say that I have little faith that any of those will occur let alone all of them. But I could be wrong.

[Jonathon Watkins]

theyre dead...

who wants a proprietary reader for the disk when you can use CF or SD in many more devices?

agreed.

Great, ANOTHER standard.

:duh: :byebye:

[arb]

Hello:
I do not see what everyone is all upset about. This is a 1.5GB media card that only cost about $15.00, that is a great price, even if the reader cost 100.00 or 200.00 it is still cheaper then 1.0gb CF Card and a lot cheaper then a 1.0gb SD Card. I know alot of people look for integration of the product being small and simple but just think about when SD and SM card readers were not installed on PDAs. We needed to carry a converter to use that type of media. I would like to see something like this come to market. To use it to watch videos would be cool, at least I could buy several of these units and have a few movies on it. Also I know it would be something that I would not keep on my unit (fixed).

I just think the cost of SD/CF memories are outrageous, $300.00 for 1gb when 512mb DDR is like $50.00.

I would like to see other technologies like this come out, at least to shake the industry up to lower their prices.

( why make 32mb CF cards for 30.00 and a 64mb CF for $40.00) waste of time and money.

Thats my 2 cents!

[Pony99CA]

I was going through some old stuff and found this thread. Curious about the fate of DCT, I checked Iomega's Web site and found this press release (http://www.iomega.com/about/prreleases/2004/digital-capture-technology.html).

It appears they still plan to release DCT disks. They will have readers in PC Card and USB 2.0 external form factors for "under" $150. Disks will cost about $10 in multipacks. The first devices using them are expected in the second half of this year (which starts in a couple of days :-)).

Of course, with iPAQ sleeves going away, there won't be many Pocket PCs left that can use PC Cards. However, if you have one, would these prices get you to buy a DCT reader, or is a 1.5 GB disk too small nowadays with 4 GB MicroDrives available?

Steve

[Sven Johannsen]

I actually invested a little in the 40M Click disks when they were unloading them. Got a bunch of the disks, a couple of PC Card drives, a USB reader for the PCcard drive and even a Hip Zip (MP3 player). It all worked pretty well but was just to restrictive, 40M, at the time it came out. Really was looking forward to the 1.5G stuff a the time. I too wonder if this is not too little, too late. Still at a price point of $10-$15 per 1.5G disk.... They do need to make sure the price of the readers doesn't drive folks away from the format.

It would be really cool, but I'd be really surprised, if my current drives worked.

[milkman dan]

uggg, I hope someone bombs Iomega HQ or something. that sucker doesn't look like it could fit in a CF slot, much less an SD slot. Hell, that thing is almost as wide as my cell phone :( On top of that, its Iomega, so of course its goign to be totally propietary, expensive, and obselete in 2 weeks :( I am personally a massive fan of SD, its soo qute and little, plus the spring loaded clicky thinggie that holds them in place is ULTRA cool :D I am getting really sick of platter based HDD's though, there are plenty of better ways of storing data then on a roating disc :/

[Pony99CA]

I am getting really sick of platter based HDD's though, there are plenty of better ways of storing data then on a roating disc :/
But how many can compete on a cost per megabyte basis?

Steve