Yet Another Sony Fumble - New Memory Sticks Don't Work With Some Vaios

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000980065097/">http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000980065097/</a><br /><br />File this one under the heading "No duh!" <i>"We’ll have to award Sony a few points for remaining steadfast in the face of adversity: the company has announced that a some models of Memory Stick with capacities 1GB and above flat out don’t work with a few series of their VAIO desktops and notebooks. Their response? “Use an external card reader.”</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2005/20051029-memorystick.jpg" /><br /><br />First Sony releases the memory stick then finds out their spec is bad and maxes out at 128MB. Then they come out with the "Duo" stick that is 256MB, but is really 2 128MB sticks shoved together so you have to remove and reverse it. Then they come out with the Memory Stick Pro which worked in exactly 0% of their previous Clie handhelds. Now their big cards may not work with $1,500 and higher laptops. Needless to say, if some of you have a Sony Clie that has a Memory Stick Pro slot, make sure these new large cards work with your system before buying them. Sony probably isn't making any effort to test those anymore.<br /><br />Why in the world anyone would buy Sony products with that kind of company standing behind it is beyond me... :evil:

[Jerry Raia]

Unless you are stuck with one of their memory stick only products this is not a big deal. Why anyone would use a memory stick instead of a cheap reliable USB flash drive is beyond me. I would never buy any of their cameras (or PDAs for obvious reasons) that use one of these silly sticks. The Vaio is a good laptop though. I have had 4 of them and just ignored the stick "feature". :)

[unxmully]

Perhaps Sony think that if they hold out, they won't have to admit they've chosen the wrong horse.

[Ed Hansberry]

Perhaps Sony think that if they hold out, they won't have to admit they've chosen the wrong horse.
Yeah. Any day now it will be proclaimed "The Year Of The BetaMax" :rotfl:

[Darius Wey]

I can't wait for them to release a Cybershot, only for them to say two weeks later, "Oops, our new Cybershot fails to read any of our existing Memory Sticks."

It's a crippled format. Sony make great products, but I think it's high time they embrace the world of CF and SD/MMC and start to focus on working with other companies in promoting this key theme of "integration". No one is bent enough to buy Sony for everything.

[Sven Johannsen]

I love my Vaio. It is probably the most consistantly used and longest owned laptops (or PCs) I have. I own exactly one Memory Stick to keep dust out of the slot. My Vaio works as well with SD, CF, PC Card hard drives, as any other laptop. You just get the PC Card adapter. I do believe I've seen Sony laptops starting to have SD slots, so maybe they aren't embracing other formats, but they may be acknowledging them. Just because they cling to that MS format doesn't detract from the fact that they make some very nice consumer electronics.

[Mark Johnson]

I'm surprised at just how long these format wars keep going on. You would think that it would be pretty obvious to even the most die-hard manufacturers (even one like Sony) that SD is going to win this game.

It does remind me about the Lexar UFC product though:
http://www.lexar.com/ufc/index.html
Anyone know what's the status of that? I haven't seen it on any products yet. I think it would be even better than SD to be able to have a camera, mp3 player, and PPC that all have a tiny USB slot that fits a standard (as long as that's a royalty-free physical standard any OEM can copy) size extremely small USB drive. I've seen the SD-with-a-usb-interface-stuck-on-it designs and they look pretty flimsy. The UFC looks like it would be solid and I'd love to be able to go to any client site/random computer and know I can move files without having to carry a card reader since everyone's got USB.

It's a lot like my PQI iStick
http://www.pqi1st.com/products/istick.asp
That's the smallest USB thumb drive I've been able to find. If the USB forum would only agree on some formal standard size like that that all forum members could produce royalty-free, that would solve so many problems. (Imagine an 4GB iPod Nano that could swap the micro-thumb-drive which could be read/written on any PC. Sign me up!

[Jonathan1]

I stopped using any MS enabled device after I dropped a grand down on a Cybershot 707 only to find out two weeks later that they are bringing out a new memory stick and opps sorry it doesn't work with all those other devices. My bad.
A thousand dollar camera rendered obsolete because of the MS. Screw memory stick. Screw it into the ground and into the grave.... But I'm not bitter. Not in the least. :wink: :?

[Jonathan1]

I love my Vaio. It is probably the most consistantly used and longest owned laptops (or PCs) I have. I own exactly one Memory Stick to keep dust out of the slot. My Vaio works as well with SD, CF, PC Card hard drives, as any other laptop. You just get the PC Card adapter. I do believe I've seen Sony laptops starting to have SD slots, so maybe they aren't embracing other formats, but they may be acknowledging them. Just because they cling to that MS format doesn't detract from the fact that they make some very nice consumer electronics.

Yah you will notice that they started embracing SD in a big way after the new CEO took over. I'm thinking that wasn't just chance. Here's hoping the PSP will include a SD or CF slot in the next version because that is the only way I will ever own a PSP.

[Tim Rapson]

Don't be shy. Tell us what you really think of Sony's Memory Stink!
I thought I was taken for a ride with my $500 Clie NR70V. I am 99% certain that I would be using a new Sony Clie TH55 today and have a pair of them in storage just in case I neede them......EXCEPT........ Sony lied to me. They had charts out showing how they were going to release 1 gig MS cards. Well, those cards never arrived. What arrived were a whole bunch of oddball memory cards of different sizes and styles. None of them over 128 MB work a Clie like mine. So, SO LONG SONY.
I just got a new Cannon camera. It offers all any comparable Sony does for much less and I got a 1 GB SD card with it for $30. Why would I spend $70 for a Memory stick of that size? Moreover, Sony's cameras are overpriced, but nowadays are being sold at huge discounts. Why? I think it is because people don't want the MS. It won't work with their other equipment.
I have about had it with Palm doing the same thing only looking like they are only doing it out of incompetance. They never release a full-featured model. No matter what is in there, there is always some feature lacking or some oddball junk added that is a PITA(nterior). The latest Palm has a very full feature set, but lacks a microphone.
Stuff it Palm and Stuff it Sony. My next PDA will be an Axim or Acer.

[guinness]

Memory Stick's seem to be as bad as Smartmedia/xD, since they're overpriced and only the companies that created them, use them. (Olympus does include a CF slot in addition to an xD slot on their more expensive cameras, Fuji might too.)

And I believe that Duo cards are the Memory Sticks that are about the size of an SD card, not the 128+128 cards that Sony used to make. Do MS's suffer from the same problem that plagues SM/xD, the lack of memory controller? That seems like a plausible reason why the bigger sticks don't work.

Sony has been digging themselves into some hole this year; no Spidy 2 to bring up their movie studio profits, the music industry sucks, and who knows when the PS3 will arrive. The PSP has been decent/good, but it has more movies than games (although I've liked the SOCOM beta and GTA has been good so far).

[mversion]

I just bought a vaio notebook, and in all honesty, the fact that it had a memory stick slot did put me off. I don't own a single memory stick, nor will I ever. Proprietary stuff suck, and Sony are as bad as it gets. But the vaio is a sleek, mean machine when you stuff it with third party gear.

[Jerry Raia]

Yeah just ignore the slot. I can't even see it on mine. Hide the drive designator in explorer and its "out of sight, out of mind" :mrgreen:

[arb]

What is an oxymoron? Anytime someone uses the words Sony and Good. These are the people that try, at the consumer’s expense, technology that is obviously inferior to any or all on the market in the attempt to usurp other superior technologies. Good examples of these are, BetaMax, UMD, MemorySticks, Super Floppy 200mb, MD, and Blu-Ray. The list can go on and on, but the point is they do this because people support this think it will be fixed eventually. Sony is a one hit wonder; it made the “Walkman” that is it. I personally do not buy Sony because of continued problems and issues with their product. They also have a complex of “It’s a Sony”. So what!! Sony believes that since they are Sony, there will be and there cannot be any problems with their products.

Now what should Sony do to fix this problem? For one, open their technology and take criticism. Allow developers to develop on their products, include other formats on their technology. Allow consumers the right to choose media formats, features, etc.

For immediate solution for this Mediastick problem, Sony should either refund the customer’s money on the technology they purchased or provide free memory stick readers that are compatible with these new ones.

Thank you,

[Jerry Raia]

I just bought a vaio notebook, and in all honesty, the fact that it had a memory stick slot did put me off. I don't own a single memory stick, nor will I ever. Proprietary stuff suck, and Sony are as bad as it gets. But the vaio is a sleek, mean machine when you stuff it with third party gear.

Another point comes to mind. There are now and have been in the past a lot of ports and connectors on laptops I never had a use for. The video output, the serial port, the docking connector and of course the Memory Stick hole. I just ignored them all. The laptop itself is still a fine machine. Think about it. Most of what goes into the laptop wasn't made by Sony anyway.

[Fishie]

I love my Vaio. It is probably the most consistantly used and longest owned laptops (or PCs) I have. I own exactly one Memory Stick to keep dust out of the slot. My Vaio works as well with SD, CF, PC Card hard drives, as any other laptop. You just get the PC Card adapter. I do believe I've seen Sony laptops starting to have SD slots, so maybe they aren't embracing other formats, but they may be acknowledging them. Just because they cling to that MS format doesn't detract from the fact that they make some very nice consumer electronics.

Yah you will notice that they started embracing SD in a big way after the new CEO took over. I'm thinking that wasn't just chance. Here's hoping the PSP will include a SD or CF slot in the next version because that is the only way I will ever own a PSP.

Videogame consoles are locked spec so most likely it wont.
It would also anger the millions of people who already bought one, many of whom are already fuming over the new PSP Gigapack.

[Fishie]

Memory Stick's seem to be as bad as Smartmedia/xD, since they're overpriced and only the companies that created them, use them. (Olympus does include a CF slot in addition to an xD slot on their more expensive cameras, Fuji might too.)

.

Sony does too these days.
They even rebrand Microdrives these days and sell em seperatly or in bundles with said cameras.

[Fishie]

What is an oxymoron? Anytime someone uses the words Sony and Good. These are the people that try, at the consumer’s expense, technology that is obviously inferior to any or all on the market in the attempt to usurp other superior technologies. Good examples of these are, BetaMax, UMD, MemorySticks, Super Floppy 200mb, MD, and Blu-Ray. The list can go on and on, but the point is they do this because people support this think it will be fixed eventually. Sony is a one hit wonder; it made the “Walkman” that is it. I personally do not buy Sony because of continued problems and issues with their product. They also have a complex of “It’s a Sony”. So what!! Sony believes that since they are Sony, there will be and there cannot be any problems with their products.

Now what should Sony do to fix this problem? For one, open their technology and take criticism. Allow developers to develop on their products, include other formats on their technology. Allow consumers the right to choose media formats, features, etc.

For immediate solution for this Mediastick problem, Sony should either refund the customer’s money on the technology they purchased or provide free memory stick readers that are compatible with these new ones.

Thank you,

Truth be told Betamax was a superior format that lost becouse Sony initially didnt allow porn to be released on their format.
Up until a few years ago Betamax and its ofshoots(like Betadigit) were still the standard used by broadcast companies.
Blu Ray too is a technological advancement over HD DVD and if it doesnt manage to takeover from DVD as the stanbdard for the coming ten years it will not be becouse IT SUCKS or whatever.
Regardles, Sony has been incredibly arrogant in the past and only recently seems to be changing.

[Duncan]

Sony - they make powerful devices but insist on crippling them every time.

I bought a Sony mini-laptop a while back that on the surface was great - except that its built-in BT was deliberately crippled (it wouldn't talk to a Pocket PC - only to Clies...!) and it was designed to only work with a specific (and very expensive) Sony branded DVD drive.

Not learning from my mistake I later bought a technically superior MP3 player (NW-HD) - then discovered it wouldn't even work properly with MP3 (never mind WMA) - just the proprietary ATRAC3 nonsense.

Now they release the PSP with a double whammy of Sony only rubbish - MS and UMD (seriously - is anyone really rich enough or stupid enough to buy films on UMD?).

Frankly they are idiots.

[arb]

Where I do not doubt or argue the fact that BetaMax was superior in quality etc, Sony just assumes that people want to put up with their crap. MS was and is a failing product, but they cannot drop it because they have devoted so much of their other product lines to use them. It is this closed mind that makes them suffer. The problem will come when enough people are burdened by this MS problem that Sony will finally give up and try to rectify the problem.

Of course as for UMD, Sony needs to produce a DVD/UMD player for home market so people so purchase UMD can enjoy them on a regular size TV. Or include a UMD disc with the actual DVD movie...

[guinness]

Where I do not doubt or argue the fact that BetaMax was superior in quality etc, Sony just assumes that people want to put up with their crap. MS was and is a failing product, but they cannot drop it because they have devoted so much of their other product lines to use them. It is this closed mind that makes them suffer. The problem will come when enough people are burdened by this MS problem that Sony will finally give up and try to rectify the problem.

Of course as for UMD, Sony needs to produce a DVD/UMD player for home market so people so purchase UMD can enjoy them on a regular size TV. Or include a UMD disc with the actual DVD movie...

They have included a UMD bundled with the regular DVD (in Japan). But that's not the real problem with UMD's, the capacity is fine and they don't skip (like an MD, but fragile, unlike an MD), but they're expensive ($25 for a UMD movie when you can get the DVD for less than $15) and it would be nice if there was reader/writer, but then that would kill of their MS Duo sales.

On the flip side, data loads faster off of flash memory and consumes less battery power. $200 for that 4 GB Microdrive add-on for the PSP doesn't look all that bad in comarison to the price of a 1 GB Duo.

[sheik]

I've just returned from Hong Kong and memorysticks are selling like hot dumplings over there because everyone wants the 1Gb cards for their PSP. (Actually, the price difference between SD, CF and MS in Hong Kong isn't much).

I hate memory sticks too, but Sony have done a good job in getting the message across to everyday users that "memory sticks are a good thing". My friend's father has just bought a new Sony laptop, and he had a budget of around $2,500 US. He only ever considered buying a Vaio because he was convinced he needed a memorystick slot to read the pictures from his (Sony) camera. I obviously told him he could use a card reader but he wasn't really interested. He's not really tech-literate, and Sony's marketing strategy has worked brilliantly on him.

And I can't talk either - a shiny white PSP (http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/phorum/read.php?1,42354,43208) in Wan Chai was far too much temptation I'm afraid, and once I succumbed it wasn't long before a 1Gb memorystick found its way onto my credit card bill :oops:. (as an aside, I've barely used the PSP, encoding films for it is far too much effort and my Nintendo DS is just a lot more fun).

/\dam

[Duncan]

And I can't talk either - a shiny white PSP (http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/phorum/read.php?1,42354,43208) in Wan Chai was far too much temptation I'm afraid, and once I succumbed it wasn't long before a 1Gb memorystick found its way onto my credit card bill :oops:. (as an aside, I've barely used the PSP, encoding films for it is far too much effort and my Nintendo DS is just a lot more fun

I read an article a little while back about how a surprising number of people were buying the PSP but then simply not using it (or using it briefly then letting it gather dust. Often even buying lots of games and accessories for their little used device. The article compared this with the same thing happening with iPOD purchases.

[sheik]

I read an article a little while back about how a surprising number of people were buying the PSP but then simply not using it
Exactly, that's my point - Sony Mind Control! ;)

/\dam