Tim Williamson
04-01-2008, 05:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_room/consumer/digital_imaging/memory_stick' target='_blank'>http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_r...ng/memory_stick</a><br /><br /></div><em>"SAN DIEGO, April. 1, 2008 – To support the growth of products that record large amounts of data, such as high mega pixel digital cameras and high-definition camcorders, Sony today announced the availability of its new Memory Stick PRO-HGXA Quad Trio Ultra Micro M3™ media. The PRO-HGXA Quad Trio Ultra Micro M3 format offers 20 times faster data transfer rates than those of the standard Memory Stick PRO Duo format.<br /><br />Available in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities, Sony’s Memory Stick PRO-HGXA Quad Trio Ultra Micro M3 media has shorter data transmission times and faster recording times between hardware with a 16-bit parallel interface and the flash memory device. With the addition of eight connector pins to the Memory Stick’s traditional 8-bit parallel interface, the resulting 16-bit parallel interface provides write speeds of up to 120MB/s (960 Mbps) megabytes per second."<br /></em><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/dht/auto/1207029084.usr209.jpg" alt="" /><br />I don't know how much smaller flash memory can get (or needs to get), but the speed and capacity increase is amazing when you figure this M3 format is even smaller than a fingernail. The press release talks about a 16-bit interface, as opposed to the "traditional" 8-bit interface, so I wonder if this will be backwards compatible with older hardware? With Sony's track record of backwards compatibility, I'm guessing they will force consumers to buy the latest hardware if they want to take advantage of the speed and capacity increases. Will it be worth it to go out and buy new hardware to support this new memory format? My other question is, do we really need yet another stupid memory format, Sony???