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Your opinion - Future of Memory Sticks compared to SD cards

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the thing is, Sony try to utilize their memory stick on all of their new and exiting products. Especially for the newest concole - Sony PSP.

that means, memory stick can be applied on not only camera but also PSP and other future sony's products.
 
zxcvar said:
Hi! I may be wrong but it seems that SD memory cards will replace
all other memory cards in future. It seems all the new Nikon and
Canon cameras are using SD cards instead of CF cards. [I use one
camera which uses SD cards. I also have a Sony camera which uses
Infolithium Memory Stick Pro cards.] The prices SD cards are
cheaper than Memory Stick Pro cards. How long people are going to
pay extra prices for Memory Stick pro cards? Moreover if one uses
SD cards, one can switch between different cameras without loosing
the money invested in memory cards. My 2cents. With thanks.
Click to expand...
Sony has won only one "BIG" technology battel. The 3.5 floppy format. The world was right on the brink of going from the 5 ¼ to the 3 ¼ form size when IBM went with the Sony drive. Computer makers around the world knew they had to be compatible with the IBM and so we have the "standard" 3 ½ 1.4 drive. I think it's near the end of it's useful life span now. You can buy 16mb cards of all sizes and types that hold ten times more information and they are really cheap. There is now no way to save most of our pictures to a floppy disk anymore.

They, Sony, just doesn't seem to look far enough ahead. The 125mb memory stick was OK when it came out, but they left very little room to grow. The same with their video player / recorder. When's the last time you saw one of those.

I have one of their computers at work and it's a nice unit and a good price. Has the memory stick reader installed. Nothing special, but nice. I got rid of the keyboard and mouse. Didn't like those.

Funny thing about that computer. It has two partitions, 20gig and 60gig. The operating system is on the 20, and you can't change it. It's my computer, I should be able to do anything with it I want. Why would someone do that? It's just Sony I guess.

I have Sony MiniDV and I like it, but still only the 125mb memory stick with 1.1 mp pictures. Their OK...................... I guess, in a small print, but only if you have nothing else.
 
bdery said:
I meant no advantage for the actual format. Put them all on a
table, compare them, and you'll understand what I mean. MS does
nothing the SD can't do, and it's overpriced.
Click to expand...
That's nice, but technical merits have very little to do with success in the market place:

Beta lost to VHS
Ford Explorer is (was?) the best selling SUV despite being a coffin on wheels.

Windows is the dominant OS (hell most MS products in general were inferior to the competition before they pushed them out of the market)
McDonalds is the number 1 fast food restaurant
Cubs are one of the most popular baseball teams.
Plasma over LCD.
Palms (pre-PalmOS 5) beat PocketPCs

Since 1984 the technically inferior video game system had the largest marketshare with the exception of Super Nintendo vs Sega Genesis (and that was a very close match):
Nintendo beat the Sega Mastery System
Playstation beat Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64
PS2 beat Sega Dreamcast, Xbox, GameCube
Gameboy beat Turbo Express, Sega Game Gear, Atari Lynx, Neo Geo Pocket.
bdery said:
Just because the PSP is popular doesn't mean the MS is a bette
format. Sony cold have used any other format to do the same thing,
but they can't cope with the fact that someone else developped a
product they want to use, so they just develop an equivalent and
sell it at higher prices.

If MS was soooo good, most companies would have adopted it by now.
Click to expand...
I never said it's a better format, I simply gave evidence that it's better positioned for long term success outside of photography. Thus it is not going to "lose"

--
Joe
 
Good reason to avoid sony.

My Casio camera takes SD and so does my HP iPaq Pocket PC. I can never buy a Sony of either now without penalizing myself by having to buy MS and no longer being able to look at my pictures on my pocket PC.
Sony shot themselves in the foot thinking they were a Microsoft. They are not.
EnclosureMac said:
the thing is, Sony try to utilize their memory stick on all of
their new and exiting products. Especially for the newest concole -
Sony PSP.
that means, memory stick can be applied on not only camera but also
PSP and other future sony's products.
Click to expand...
--
MjN
 
haven't read the other posts, so forgive me if this has been pointed out. the new playstation portables use the MS Pro Duo card to save games and store music, photos & video. if psp takes off and sticks around the memory stick should keep ticking along, not to mention all its other uses -- cameras, phones, etc.

you think?

michael hildebrand
juneau, alaska
 
So far there are or have been a number of memory formats:

CompactFlash (still in use)
SmartMedia (not really in use anymore, but devices are still out there)
SecureDigital/MMC (still in use)
xD (Fuji and Olympus)
Memory Stick/Memory Stick Pro (Sony and Konica)

Long term, compact flash is likely to stick around due to ability to have high capacities and the use of onboard controller chips in the memory card itself. Secure Digital is likely to be around due to its use in MP3-type players and cell phones as well as cameras. SmartMedia is dead for all practical purposes, especially with its 128 mb limit. Memory Stick has a dubious future IMHO as Sony is its primary booster, but virtually nobody else actually seems to use it. Likewise, xD is primarily for Fuji and Olympus cameras and this limits its future potential.

Thus, I see Secure Digital and Compact Flash as the best options for your long-term memory usage and compatibility.

Anthony
zxcvar said:
Hi! I may be wrong but it seems that SD memory cards will replace
all other memory cards in future. It seems all the new Nikon and
Canon cameras are using SD cards instead of CF cards. [I use one
camera which uses SD cards. I also have a Sony camera which uses
Infolithium Memory Stick Pro cards.] The prices SD cards are
cheaper than Memory Stick Pro cards. How long people are going to
pay extra prices for Memory Stick pro cards? Moreover if one uses
SD cards, one can switch between different cameras without loosing
the money invested in memory cards. My 2cents. With thanks.
Click to expand...
 
Pyogenes said:
bdery said:
I meant no advantage for the actual format. Put them all on a
table, compare them, and you'll understand what I mean. MS does
nothing the SD can't do, and it's overpriced.
Click to expand...
That's nice, but technical merits have very little to do with
success in the market place:
Click to expand...
The MS still looses on my "table comparison".
Pyogenes said:
Beta lost to VHS
Ford Explorer is (was?) the best selling SUV despite being a coffin
on wheels.
Windows is the dominant OS (hell most MS products in general were
inferior to the competition before they pushed them out of the
market)
McDonalds is the number 1 fast food restaurant
Cubs are one of the most popular baseball teams.
Plasma over LCD.
Palms (pre-PalmOS 5) beat PocketPCs

Since 1984 the technically inferior video game system had the
largest marketshare with the exception of Super Nintendo vs Sega
Genesis (and that was a very close match):
Nintendo beat the Sega Mastery System
Playstation beat Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64
PS2 beat Sega Dreamcast, Xbox, GameCube
Gameboy beat Turbo Express, Sega Game Gear, Atari Lynx, Neo Geo
Pocket.
Click to expand...
Opinions, opinions, nothing more. I won't get into this, it doesn't serve the debate (but Palm IS better than pocket PC, as far as freeware programs and touchscreene fficiency arerelated. That,s just to show it depends on what your parameters are).
Pyogenes said:
Pyogenes said:
Just because the PSP is popular doesn't mean the MS is a bette
format. Sony cold have used any other format to do the same thing,
but they can't cope with the fact that someone else developped a
product they want to use, so they just develop an equivalent and
sell it at higher prices.

If MS was soooo good, most companies would have adopted it by now.
Click to expand...
I never said it's a better format, I simply gave evidence that it's
better positioned for long term success outside of photography.
Thus it is not going to "lose"
Click to expand...
I think it's going to loose... in the digital camera market. Long live the Playstation, if people like it (I'm not a gamer) but for digicams, the MS has no advantage.
Pyogenes said:
--
Joe
Click to expand...
--
bdery

Québec city, Canada
Cool,pix S Q
 
zxcvar said:
Hi! I may be wrong but it seems that SD memory cards will replace
all other memory cards in future. It seems all the new Nikon and
Canon cameras are using SD cards instead of CF cards. [I use one
camera which uses SD cards. I also have a Sony camera which uses
Infolithium Memory Stick Pro cards.] The prices SD cards are
cheaper than Memory Stick Pro cards. How long people are going to
pay extra prices for Memory Stick pro cards? Moreover if one uses
SD cards, one can switch between different cameras without loosing
the money invested in memory cards. My 2cents. With thanks.
Click to expand...
I think I read EVERY post up to this one that I am writing. Nobody mentioned durability of the SD card. Are they not thin and bendable? Both the CF and memory stick are more durable. In fact, if one considers the pins needed to interface with a CF card, the MS looks like the best option. It is durable, has a large capacity and does not rely on many pins to insert into the card. I dunno anything about speed on the MS though. Can it write and read at 10MB/s?
 
Lets see, Sony makes more digital cameras than anyone in the world, altho kodak is closing in. Sony makes more video game machines than anyone else in the world. They are right up there with TV's too. Hell, the PSP will sell more than canon and sony combined sell cameras.

Not to mention that they are small and faaaast. And when you buy them onsale, or offbrand like sandisk, they are not much more at all.

And almost everyone now includes a ms stick reader slot when they offer readers.

They have steadily GROWN in popularity the last few years. and the PSP will boost that big time, they are gonna sell millions of those things
. This year.
zxcvar said:
Hi! I may be wrong but it seems that SD memory cards will replace
all other memory cards in future. It seems all the new Nikon and
Canon cameras are using SD cards instead of CF cards. [I use one
camera which uses SD cards. I also have a Sony camera which uses
Infolithium Memory Stick Pro cards.] The prices SD cards are
cheaper than Memory Stick Pro cards. How long people are going to
pay extra prices for Memory Stick pro cards? Moreover if one uses
SD cards, one can switch between different cameras without loosing
the money invested in memory cards. My 2cents. With thanks.
Click to expand...
 
bdery said:
I think it's going to loose... in the digital camera market. Long
live the Playstation, if people like it (I'm not a gamer) but for
digicams, the MS has no advantage.
Click to expand...
You're making the mistake of assuming the video game industry and digital camera industry are completely independent. Don't ignore what they have in common - consumers.

People don't like needing to buy new memory. Your average consumer doesn't know anything about the technical advantage of different memory formats nor cares to know (that's why superior products fail all the time - consumers don't care it's superior). If they already have MS from owning a PSP (or PS3 in the future assuming Sony uses it for that too), then they are more likely to buy a camera that uses Memory Sticks. That's the entire reason they use a proprietary format. They've just had poor luck thus far getting a product out that is pervasive enough to give them that advantage.

Does that mean other camera companies will start supporting MS? Of course not, but that's a far cry from going away.

--
Joe
 
I've had no problems resizing my partitions on my Sony Vaio. Their recovery CD gives you the option to use either the default partition structure that is on the CD or customize it. You can also use something like Partition Magic if you want to keep your data intact.

Most OEMs divide their hard drive like that.
Alvin Nunley said:
zxcvar said:
Hi! I may be wrong but it seems that SD memory cards will replace
all other memory cards in future. It seems all the new Nikon and
Canon cameras are using SD cards instead of CF cards. [I use one
camera which uses SD cards. I also have a Sony camera which uses
Infolithium Memory Stick Pro cards.] The prices SD cards are
cheaper than Memory Stick Pro cards. How long people are going to
pay extra prices for Memory Stick pro cards? Moreover if one uses
SD cards, one can switch between different cameras without loosing
the money invested in memory cards. My 2cents. With thanks.
Click to expand...
Sony has won only one "BIG" technology battel. The 3.5 floppy
format. The world was right on the brink of going from the 5 ¼ to
the 3 ¼ form size when IBM went with the Sony drive. Computer
makers around the world knew they had to be compatible with the IBM
and so we have the "standard" 3 ½ 1.4 drive. I think it's near the
end of it's useful life span now. You can buy 16mb cards of all
sizes and types that hold ten times more information and they are
really cheap. There is now no way to save most of our pictures to
a floppy disk anymore.

They, Sony, just doesn't seem to look far enough ahead. The 125mb
memory stick was OK when it came out, but they left very little
room to grow. The same with their video player / recorder. When's
the last time you saw one of those.

I have one of their computers at work and it's a nice unit and a
good price. Has the memory stick reader installed. Nothing
special, but nice. I got rid of the keyboard and mouse. Didn't
like those.

Funny thing about that computer. It has two partitions, 20gig and
60gig. The operating system is on the 20, and you can't change it.
It's my computer, I should be able to do anything with it I want.
Why would someone do that? It's just Sony I guess.

I have Sony MiniDV and I like it, but still only the 125mb memory
stick with 1.1 mp pictures. Their OK...................... I
guess, in a small print, but only if you have nothing else.
Click to expand...
 
SmartMedia are thin and bendable, which is why it was a dead end. SD cards are definitely not bendable without breaking and are pretty much like CF and SD in this regard. Also, because it's more square than a regular memory stick, it's less likely to be bent.

Speed on the MS card is actually something like 2.5 megabytes/sec maximum for reading and 1.5 megabytes per second for reading.

By comparison a 60x SD card is like 8 to 9 megabytes/second.

The problem with trying to figure out memory stick speed is that Sony quotes maximum theoretical throughput numbers and in megabits per second. It's hard to find real-world numbers, although I see that Sandisk is claiming speeds similar to SD cards.

CF is better for speed because the controllers are built into the card.

SD is used in other devices; memory stick hasn't branched out as effectively.

Anthony
E1derful said:
I think I read EVERY post up to this one that I am writing. Nobody
mentioned durability of the SD card. Are they not thin and
bendable? Both the CF and memory stick are more durable. In fact,
if one considers the pins needed to interface with a CF card, the
MS looks like the best option. It is durable, has a large capacity
and does not rely on many pins to insert into the card. I dunno
anything about speed on the MS though. Can it write and read at
10MB/s?
Click to expand...
 
Your thinking is too narrow. The latest high end cell phones use SD cards, not memory stick. Check out low end MP3/WMA players--you'll be hard pressed to find a memory stick based player that isn't an expensive Sony but you'll easily find lots of SD card based players under $100.

Bottom line: Sony is in financial trouble. They've lost a court case and have been ordered to stop Playstation sales. The iPOD outsells everything Sony makes. Sharp and Panasonic (Matsushita) sell more flat TVs. Sony recently appointed a new CEO because of its financial troubles.

The time is gone when Sony could create a market with its own products. It has to join the other companies in standards if it wants to remain relevant in the future.

Anthony
sandy b said:
Not to mention that they are small and faaaast. And when you buy
them onsale, or offbrand like sandisk, they are not much more at
all.

And almost everyone now includes a ms stick reader slot when they
offer readers.

They have steadily GROWN in popularity the last few years. and the
PSP will boost that big time, they are gonna sell millions of those
things
. This year.
zxcvar said:
Hi! I may be wrong but it seems that SD memory cards will replace
all other memory cards in future. It seems all the new Nikon and
Canon cameras are using SD cards instead of CF cards. [I use one
camera which uses SD cards. I also have a Sony camera which uses
Infolithium Memory Stick Pro cards.] The prices SD cards are
cheaper than Memory Stick Pro cards. How long people are going to
pay extra prices for Memory Stick pro cards? Moreover if one uses
SD cards, one can switch between different cameras without loosing
the money invested in memory cards. My 2cents. With thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
We'r deep in opinion now... ain't it fun!
Pyogenes said:
bdery said:
I think it's going to loose... in the digital camera market. Long
live the Playstation, if people like it (I'm not a gamer) but for
digicams, the MS has no advantage.
Click to expand...
You're making the mistake of assuming the video game industry and
digital camera industry are completely independent. Don't ignore
what they have in common - consumers.

People don't like needing to buy new memory.
Click to expand...
That's why I think the MS can't win in the digital camera market. There are way more chances that a new ponential customre will on SD or CF cards than MS. I know for me it limited my choices. I owne both formats, so I went towards a camera that used one of those. Same thing whn I got a camera for my father-in-law. He doesn'T even know what a Playstation is, so convregence isn't likely. I got him a simple Kodak camera with SD slot, so he's safe for the future, his card should be easy to use in any future camera he might get.

Most consumers are aimed at the simple P&S (just look at Nikon's new cams, you'll see what I mean... look at their press releases too) and those people won't ever take the card out of the camera. Incidentially, it's the same with PS gamers. They'll leave the card in the machine, so as to run no risk of forgetting to put it in again, or loosing data, or whatever. For most people, it's one machine, one card.

Will the MS disappear? I doubt it. But gradually, I think it will bcome more and more limited in use. The PSP won't be there forever, either.
Pyogenes said:
Your average consumer
doesn't know anything about the technical advantage of different
memory formats nor cares to know (that's why superior products fail
all the time - consumers don't care it's superior). If they
already have MS from owning a PSP (or PS3 in the future assuming
Sony uses it for that too), then they are more likely to buy a
camera that uses Memory Sticks. That's the entire reason they use
a proprietary format. They've just had poor luck thus far getting
a product out that is pervasive enough to give them that advantage.

Does that mean other camera companies will start supporting MS? Of
course not, but that's a far cry from going away.

--
Joe
Click to expand...
--
bdery

Québec city, Canada
Cool,pix S Q
 
Amen.
Anthony said:
Bottom line: Sony is in financial trouble. They've lost a court
case and have been ordered to stop Playstation sales. The iPOD
outsells everything Sony makes. Sharp and Panasonic (Matsushita)
sell more flat TVs. Sony recently appointed a new CEO because of
its financial troubles.

The time is gone when Sony could create a market with its own
products. It has to join the other companies in standards if it
wants to remain relevant in the future.

Anthony
sandy b said:
Not to mention that they are small and faaaast. And when you buy
them onsale, or offbrand like sandisk, they are not much more at
all.

And almost everyone now includes a ms stick reader slot when they
offer readers.

They have steadily GROWN in popularity the last few years. and the
PSP will boost that big time, they are gonna sell millions of those
things
. This year.
zxcvar said:
Hi! I may be wrong but it seems that SD memory cards will replace
all other memory cards in future. It seems all the new Nikon and
Canon cameras are using SD cards instead of CF cards. [I use one
camera which uses SD cards. I also have a Sony camera which uses
Infolithium Memory Stick Pro cards.] The prices SD cards are
cheaper than Memory Stick Pro cards. How long people are going to
pay extra prices for Memory Stick pro cards? Moreover if one uses
SD cards, one can switch between different cameras without loosing
the money invested in memory cards. My 2cents. With thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
bdery

Québec city, Canada
Cool,pix S Q
 
mem sticks are here to stay, Sony sells millions of them to happy consumers. The psp will sell hundreds of millions, and you will have all those people with memory sticks......................hmm, wonder what else they will buy to put them in? Sonys misfortune have been widley spread, and they are having troubles, but they have huuuge resources, lots of major companys slide sometimes, they still are the leading camera maker in the world, and thats not even their largest division, by far. cya, off to buy some sony stock. BTW, only 2 digital camera companies made a profit last year, and one of them was Sony....
 
sandy b said:
BTW, only 2 digital camera companies made a profit last year, and
one of them was Sony....
Click to expand...
And what,s the othe one? Nikon didn't loose money, nor did Canon, nor did Panasonic. I'm not sure about the others, but these ones re doing well, thank you very much.

This has turned into a "people using Sony (and vouching for thir brand)" against everyone else. I think it's getting nowhere.

--
bdery

Québec city, Canada
Cool,pix S Q
 
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