6 GB of Compact Flash Storage - Only $4499.95! Order Today! :-)

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mobileplanet.com/private/pocketpcthoughts/product.asp?dept%5Fid=1445&pf%5Fid=MP970857&listing=1' target='_blank'>http://www.mobileplanet.com/private...70857&listing=1</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/MP970857.gif" /><br /><br />What's to say? It's 6 GB of storage, it's Type II, and it's $4499.95 USD. And I bet Andrew "Master of Mayhem" Farkas has already ordered two of them. :lol: [Affiliate]

[arebelspy]

Still too small. ;)

Can't wait til we get more storage for cheap. At least small steps like this let us know it's coming. :)

-arebelspy

[derosnec]

It's 6 GB of storage, it's Type II, and it's $4499.95 USD

Surely you mean only $4499.95, you do have to make it sound cheap :D

Just a little bit pricy for me, maybe I'd go for it for $4495.95 though :-)

[ChristopherTD]

If there was some way I could easily use the extra space on my Apple iPod with my iPaq then I would be extremely happy! A 40GB iPod with Bluetooth or USB connection would be wonderful, and much cheaper than this $4500 beastie.

There cannot surely be very many people who need the extra space that badly - even professional photographers.

[bjornkeizers]

I'll save Jason the trouble and behave for once.

**HOLY &lt;bleep>!!!** 8O 8O 8O

Who in their right mind needs 6 gigabyte of storage???? If you do then you need to find a support group!

And it costs $4500! forty-five-hundred-dollars! I can buy three brand spanking new top-of-the-line laptops for that!!

[SassKwatch]

Who in their right mind needs 6 gigabyte of storage???? If you do then you need to find a support group!
I seem to recall someone once saying that noone would ever need more than 640KB of RAM.

Guess I'm in desparate need of a support group. :)

[mscdex]

Who in their right mind needs 6 gigabyte of storage???? If you do then you need to find a support group!
I seem to recall someone once saying that noone would ever need more than 640KB of RAM.

Guess I'm in desparate need of a support group. :)

..... Except they didn't really say that, it was taken out of context ;)

[maximus]

Well, the price was $6,500 when pretec first accounce it 4 months ago. $2,000 dollar price drop in 4 months. If you wait for another 8 months, The price will drop to $500.

[Rok]

Who in their right mind needs 6 gigabyte of storage????
Well, my current desktop machine has a 80 Gig disk and I'm already struggling for storage space, so I plan to purchase a 120 Gig disk next month. Granted, there's a lot of video on that platters and you could quite reasonably argue I'm not in my right mind, but I higly suspect I'm not alone.

Would you still be so upset if the price tag was $ 449.95?

I guess in two or three years, 4 Gig flash cards are going to be every bit as common as today's 256 Meg ones. We'll see.

Cheers,
Rok

[Steven Cedrone]

But I have to ask: Does the Master 'O Mayhem have one yet??? :wink:

Steve

[DaleReeck]

Who in their right mind needs 6 gigabyte of storage???? If you do then you need to find a support group!


Professional photographers. Using $10,000 rigs and uncompressed files for maximum quality, $5,000 for mass storage is not unreasonable.

[grohl]

I always abide by the fact that you can NEVER have enough storage.

Hence my three-drive 200 GB desktop that is already filling up fast.

[bspline]

As the second law of computing states, "the more space you have, the more likely it's going to be filled up with crap you didn't put there".

[Lotto]

I will just wait, as Jason is surely to have one in the next giveaway. :wink:

[GoldKey]

I easily filled the 5 GB hard drive I have for my PDA. I need lots more space. A cheap external BT or wireless HD would be good.

[trachy]

Damn. That's more expensive than the Lion Stilts over at Proporta! 8O

[Master O'Mayhem]

But I have to ask: Does the Master 'O Mayhem have one yet??? :wink:

Steve

Well.. no.. But i did just order 16 250GB drives for my HTPC :) 4+TB in my HTPC hehe :D

The only Device I would use this for is my Nikon D100. I have a few 1GB CF cards and they are fine for me.

[anthonymoody]

Hey Master O,
I assume you're using this space to record OTA HD. I'm wondering what your rig consists of? Also, do you frequent the AVS forums?

TM

[bjornkeizers]

Well, my current desktop machine has a 80 Gig disk and I'm already struggling for storage space, so I plan to purchase a 120 Gig disk next month. Granted, there's a lot of video on that platters and you could quite reasonably argue I'm not in my right mind, but I higly suspect I'm not alone.


Desktops are different. You need gigabytes of space for your programs, your movies, games, etc. I recently bought a 60 gigabyte drive just so I could watch enterprise and futurama episodes on my network :D

Honestly though, why on earth would you need 6 gigabyte for a pocket pc? That space is nice, but you start to find things to put on it to justify it. Sure, you could put a hundred MP3's on it, and you could install every pocket pc game ten times, and you could watch spiderman on your PPC.. but WHY? WHY? WHY? And W?BIC! doesn't even begin to justify spending four and a half grand on a memory expansion.

Why not buy a simple laptop? Even the simplest ones have way more then 6 gigabyte, not to mention much better resolution!


Would you still be so upset if the price tag was $ 449.95?


At 449,95 it'd be a great deal. And yes, I would probably get one, but only because it would be a good deal; not because I need it. I have a 10 gigabyte MP3 player.. I don't need even 1 gigabyte but I bought it because it was a good deal.

[Kati Compton]

And yes, I would probably get one, but only because it would be a good deal; not because I need it. I have a 10 gigabyte MP3 player.. I don't need even 1 gigabyte but I bought it because it was a good deal.
I don't know, spending $500 on something you don't need and won't use doesn't seem like a very good deal at all to me, even if the storage:$ ratio is attractive.

[ticklz]

The bigger the hard drive, the smaller the brain drive!

[Master O'Mayhem]

Hey Master O,
I assume you're using this space to record OTA HD. I'm wondering what your rig consists of? Also, do you frequent the AVS forums?

TM

Yes... I am using a hybrid of sorts... There was a guy who posted about a 2TB HTPC... i am using some base compnents of his set up but i am trying to cramm more drives into it...

[ucfgrad93]

Hey Jason, can I borrow your credit card? ;)

Obvisiously this is not aimed at a normal consumer, but some sort of photographic professional. But still, thats alot of money.

[szamot]

Look at it this way if this was a SD card it would be close to 10K so really at $4.5K this truly is a bargain. I think this is more about the "need" than the "want". Those who need it will get it those who only want it will wait - just like me.

[maximus]

I don't know, spending $500 on something you don't need and won't use doesn't seem like a very good deal at all to me, even if the storage:$ ratio is attractive.

Imagine being able to stuff 2400 oggs in one flash card.

Or 2400 5megapixel images at super-fine compression.

Or 4000 5megapixel images at fine compression.

Awesome.

[danmanmayer]

How about I dance on a table and Pretec gives me this compact flash card as a even exchange. I have a really funny dance.

[mr_Ray]

It's always funny seeing people go "what do you need THAT MUCH storage/CPU power/milk/puppies/etc for???" and then a year or two later, they'll be running that much in their rig and will be complaining that it's not enough. :)

People tend to think along the lines of what they currently do, and I saw the "my desktop needs it but my PPC doesn't" arguement, too. Well imagine if your PPC could do everything that your desktop could - get rid of the desktop! Until I can carry a copy of every song ever recorded, every book written, every game ever played, and every contact, calendar item, and task I could ever need in my pocket, and work through them all at top speed, I say that it's not enough.

6GB is a decent boost from what was there before though, and the price will fall in time. Bring it on, I say.

[Kati Compton]

I don't know, spending $500 on something you don't need and won't use doesn't seem like a very good deal at all to me, even if the storage:$ ratio is attractive.

Imagine being able to stuff 2400 oggs in one flash card.

Or 2400 5megapixel images at super-fine compression.

Or 4000 5megapixel images at fine compression.

I'm not saying *I* wouldn't use it, or that *I* can't see the value. I'd store my whole music collection on it at high quality. But bjornkeizers basically said he had no use for even 1 GB storage, thought large storage cards for PDAs were unnecessary, but would buy the 5GB anyway because it would be a "good deal".

[seidler]

Well, the price was $6,500 when pretec first accounce it 4 months ago. $2,000 dollar price drop in 4 months. If you wait for another 8 months, The price will drop to $500.
Yeah and if you wait 12 months, they'll give give you $1000 with it that you finally take it! :rofl:
I think it's not that fast, 1GB cards are just about to drop to the normal price/MB ratio and the bigger it gets the more problems really appear (guess why it's a type II ;) ) and so the prices will maybe never come to the price/MB like the current 512MB cards I think...

Stefan

[bjornkeizers]

But bjornkeizers basically said he had no use for even 1 GB storage, thought large storage cards for PDAs were unnecessary, but would buy the 5GB anyway because it would be a "good deal".

Yup, that's exactly what I said. Right now, I have a 32 mb Jornada with a 128 mb card in it. I read, I play games, I have a ton of pictures and documents on it. And still, 20 mb free. I could just about justify buying a 256 mb card, but only because I'd want to carry around my Pocket Quake as well. Apart from that, what would I need 512, 1 gb or 6 gb for? Movies? MP3's? A PPC only has a couple hours battery life at best.. and you can buy a 10 or 20 gb player for peanuts these days. Still, I'm always looking for nice new kit at low low prices.. so at $449 I might buy one just to impress people with it :D

I guess it'd be cool to have stuff like entire DVD rips on it, but for that amount of cash - you could buy a good portable DVD player not to mention three laptops.

[Bill Gunn]

Who in their right mind needs 6 gigabyte of storage???? If you do then you need to find a support group!
I seem to recall someone once saying that noone would ever need more than 640KB of RAM.

Guess I'm in desparate need of a support group. :)

And he was right at the time. An original IBM PC would need your entire lifetime read a 80GB hard drive from start to end, much less do anything with the data.

[Bill Gunn]

Well imagine if your PPC could do everything that your desktop could - get rid of the desktop! Until I can carry a copy of every song ever recorded, every book written, every game ever played, and every contact, calendar item, and task I could ever need in my pocket, and work through them all at top speed, I say that it's not enough.

6GB is a decent boost from what was there before though, and the price will fall in time. Bring it on, I say.

Unless my PPC has a 21 inch screen, a keyboard, a DVD burner, a flightstick, a mouse and 5.1 surround sound then it can never do what my desktop does. A PPC's batteries won't last long enough to slog through 6gb of data and if they would it wouldn't be much fun on a 3 inch screen IMHO.

[GoldKey]

I guess it'd be cool to have stuff like entire DVD rips on it, but for that amount of cash - you could buy a good portable DVD player not to mention three laptops.

I actually have over 60 movies ripped onto my PC Card HD for use on my Axim along with a bunch of MP3's. This lets me travel without thinking what I want to bring with me. I don't normally work of the HD because it eats the battery, but will transfer the movie or two I want to watch to the SD card at night in a hotel while plugged in. I also move the pictures I have taken off my camera and onto the HD as a backup. I would normally have carried my laptop when traveling for each of these things, but now I don't need to.

[mr_Ray]

Well imagine if your PPC could do everything that your desktop could - get rid of the desktop! Until I can carry a copy of every song ever recorded, every book written, every game ever played, and every contact, calendar item, and task I could ever need in my pocket, and work through them all at top speed, I say that it's not enough.

6GB is a decent boost from what was there before though, and the price will fall in time. Bring it on, I say.

Unless my PPC has a 21 inch screen, a keyboard, a DVD burner, a flightstick, a mouse and 5.1 surround sound then it can never do what my desktop does. A PPC's batteries won't last long enough to slog through 6gb of data and if they would it wouldn't be much fun on a 3 inch screen IMHO.

Quite true, there'll always be a call for large form factor input/display devices. However, the fewer restrictions there are on PPCs the more useful the platform becomes. Current major restrictions, IMO, are storage, raw power, screen resolution, and battery life. Any move to lessen the effect of any of those is something that I'd take any day of the week.
I doubt anyone would not even give any consideration to a pocketable device with enough storage for their entire video/music/literary library. As I see it, the compromises I have to make all the time on what can fit onto my storage card are a bad thing indeed, and if that 6GB card was halfway affordable to me I'd jump at it... until the 60GB one comes out, that is.

[dh]

I use a 1GB CF card for music, movies and eBooks. It doesn't take long to fill up the storeage space available. Having to constantly transfer files between my PPC and PC is a pain.

It would be great to be able to dump every I have onto one card and not have to worry about running out of space. I'm always a bit envious when I see someone with an Ipod. That's the kind of storage room I really want.

Wouldn't it be fantastic if Apple were to take the guts of their product and build Win Mobile and a great screen into it. Give it WiFi and BT and it would be the ultimate mobile device. :D

I would like a larger CF card, but the price has to drop an awful lot to be attractive.

[isilver]

I don't like the idea of a drive of this size. A drive of this size means either bigger programs or worse programming for those programs. If they don't have to save on space then why should they.

Secondly. I don't know know about you guys but to move a 100 megs over from my computer to my PDA is no small task. It's one of those things that I setup and leave. I can't imagine how long it would take to copy over 6 gigs. Especially knowing that activesync will probably stop working before I copy all the information over.

[Steven Cedrone]

I can't imagine how long it would take to copy over 6 gigs. Especially knowing that activesync will probably stop working before I copy all the information over.

I would never attempt to move that much data without a card reader...

Steve

[GoldKey]

I can't imagine how long it would take to copy over 6 gigs. Especially knowing that activesync will probably stop working before I copy all the information over.

I would never attempt to move that much data without a card reader...

Steve

Exactly, I tried moving MP3's directly to the PDA exactly once. Then I bought a card reader. No pretty much all data goes on that way rather than via Active sync.

[Kati Compton]

A PPC's batteries won't last long enough to slog through 6gb of data and if they would it wouldn't be much fun on a 3 inch screen IMHO.
Personally, I'd like the 6GB not to hold everything I want to do on a single charge, but instead everything I might want to do across several charges. With 6GB I could load all my music, then just choose what I want to listen to when I'm listening. Otherwise, I have to choose what files to transfer over and know in advance what I want to hear.

If you're a very good planner, never change your mind, and always have time to transfer exactly what you need, you may not need this much space. But if, like me, your mood and tastes change throughout the day and you like to have choices, I think it'd be useful.

[disconnected]

I have Mapopolis, and am always having to remember to copy maps for whatever trip I'm taking. It would be nice to have the whole country on one card. (And also movies, music, photos, etc.)

[CoreyJF]

Agreed the price is ridiculous right now. But people that say there is no use for that size memory, or that you may need it in the future obviously aren’t using the ppc’s in the same way I am. While I am not spending that kind of money right now I could easily use the space right now. I have well over a gig of MP3’s. While yes I could get an IPOD, I don’t want to carry multiple devices. I would love to load my entire mappopolis collection for my GPS instead of having to remember to add and delete maps. If I had every map and every mp3 that would be well over 2 gigs right there. If I am go on an trip I would like to have a few movies as well. Right now at best, I can get one on a second card. Throw in my ebooks and it is already adding up. I have tons of audible content that I would love to take with me. I hate having to pick and choose. For those of you who say, get a laptop. I have 2, one for work one personal. But as portable as laptops are, they don’t fit in your pocket. Even if you ignore the movies and say who would want to watch a movie on such a small screen. The ebooks, Audible books, map data, and MP3’s could easily take up such space.

[Janak Parekh]

Personally, I'd like the 6GB not to hold everything I want to do on a single charge, but instead everything I might want to do across several charges.
Precisely. For example -- why do you think a 30GB iPod has so much popularity? You have the equivalent of ALL your CDs, and even though it has 8 hours of battery life, you've got the full flexibility without having to copy music back and forth.

I've generally found that everything I need fits on a 256MB SD card, except for music. Music is a problem as I have several hundred CDs that I would like to carry with me, which is why I opted for an iPod after holding out for a long time. Corey has a good point about carrying multiple devices, though -- if the 6GB CF was available today for &lt; $500 (preferably cheaper, of course), I'd snap one up in a heartbeat. The iPod is more of a compromise. (However, I have to admit the fact that it supports a remote control is extremely useful.)

--janak

[mr_Ray]

Personally, I'd like the 6GB not to hold everything I want to do on a single charge, but instead everything I might want to do across several charges. With 6GB I could load all my music, then just choose what I want to listen to when I'm listening. Otherwise, I have to choose what files to transfer over and know in advance what I want to hear.

If you're a very good planner, never change your mind, and always have time to transfer exactly what you need, you may not need this much space. But if, like me, your mood and tastes change throughout the day and you like to have choices, I think it'd be useful.
Well, exactly.
Hey, I rarely if ever run photoshop and Excel at the same time on my PC, but you'd have to be somewhat insane to suggest that I could just as well get by with a smaller disk drive. Heaven forbid if I wanted to listen to music at the same time.

Yet on PPCs this sort of thing is seen by many as the de facto thing to do - why do you need everything all at once?
Well, I don't - I would however enjoy the flexibility of everything available at any given time. "Sorry, I can't show you that sales report until I get back to the office, I had to take pocket actrobat erader off my iPAQ this morning to fit that new album on.
Desktops with crazy large disks are still falling far short of the mark - PPCs are so far behind the curve that you can't even see the horizon.

Never underestimate the value of convenience.

[bbell98]

Don't worry guys - they will probably have a $50 rebate for this thing around Christmas time! Just try to hold back until then... :D

-Bob

[SassKwatch]

Honestly though, why on earth would you need 6 gigabyte for a pocket pc?
Easy....., because I want what the name implies......a pocket *pc*, not a perpetually dependent child of same.

[ctmagnus]

Exactly, I tried moving MP3's directly to the PDA exactly once. Then I bought a card reader. No pretty much all data goes on that way rather than via Active sync.

I gave up after WMAs that were 1/4 the size of the corresponding MP3s.

[maximus]

Most of the time (99.9%), I am thankful that I was born on a regular family, having to earn everything, instead of being a rich brat.

Looking at the 6GB CF is one of the 0.1% moment, when I really wish that I am the Prince of Persia. All I need to do is to call Pretec's Director of Sales: Hey, I need 10 of your brand new 6gigs CF. Can you have it ready by tonight ? I'll send one of my private jet to taiwan to pick it up.

[dean_shan]

I always abide by the fact that you can NEVER have enough storage.
I live by that motto. I guess I am just a pack rat when it comes to digital media. I keep every thing. Even stupid little movies.

[gunner6666]

to expensive id rather get a pc card hard drive

[Will T Smith]

I filled up a 128MB card almost exclusively with eBooks. I dare say that I could use more space especially for MP3 (hopefully eventually Vorbs). It's exciting to see more storage options available.

Of course, this also begs that handheld devices get more throughput and I/O speed via faster CF card interfaces AND faster interconnect like USB2 (likely) and Firewire (unlikely).

Hopefully, Microsoft we'll see device manufacturers adding USB2.0 type speed (as well as native USB hosting) soon. This has special relevance with the recently released external PCI Express standard that implements USB2 as a poor mans interface for small form-factor expansion. A pocketPC could conceivably host the same cards that laptops will.

[spcarso]

Hey Gang,

Have you checked Toshiba's Hopbit?

http://blueunplugged.com/shop/detailcomingsoon.asp?productGroupID=178&deptID=3

It is a 5GB drive that is about the size of a PDA that connects to a PDA over Bluetooth. It hasn't come out in the states, and who knows if it ever will, but it sure would be cool on those long trips.

[GoldKey]

Seen this before, waiting to see the price here. At the right price (and more like 20 GB) this could be a winner.