06-06-2003, 08:00 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Flash-Memory Bargains Bloom
"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."
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.
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06-06-2003, 08:38 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,041
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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.
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06-06-2003, 09:32 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 75
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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
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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.
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06-06-2003, 09:43 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 93
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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!
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06-06-2003, 10:01 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 80
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Problem is, you wouldn't have enough room on the card to label it!
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Why not use the system I used: . for "there is something important" and no dot for "there is nothing important"! :lol:
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06-07-2003, 12:01 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 381
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Originally Posted by 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!
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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?
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06-07-2003, 12:08 AM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 5,133
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Originally Posted by nobody
Why not use the system I used: . for "there is something important" and no dot for "there is nothing important"! :lol:
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Do you color-code your dots according to the type of important data? Or the degree to which it is important?
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06-07-2003, 12:50 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 414
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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.
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06-07-2003, 12:57 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 171
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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).
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06-07-2003, 01:37 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Originally Posted by heov
BTW, is memory stick still the leading flash memory format in the market, or did SD catchup?
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Last I heard, CF is #1, SD is #2, MS is #3. Where did you read that MS was #1? 8O
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Linear Mode
