Hello,
Here is a translation of the French article, based on a WorldLingo machine translation that I have revised to correct errors:
Has the SmartMedia card seen its last days? A new card developed by Toshiba will arrive this autumn: the smaller, faster, and more powerful XD Picture Card that will be announced with a new generation of cameras.
This jealously held secret, one of the most important pieces of information of the moment, will shake the photo world this autumn: the SmartMedia card could be replaced by a new card, smaller, faster and more powerful: XD Picture Card.
Initiallly developed by Toshiba, the SmartMedia card saw its hour of glory at the beginnings of digital photography, when the cameras were satisfied with a memory of 2 MB. It was well-received for its compactness, its cost, and its transfer speed.
But its limitations quickly appeared, and as the capacities increased, so did the incompatibilities resulting from a design flaw: the card does not have an internal controller so its performance is related to the camera that it is used by. The controllers of the cameras did not envision the future evolutions, so incompatibility occurred each time SM took a step ahead.
SmartMedia: the record of incompatibility!
The compatibility problems never ceased; with the drafting, virtually all devices were limited to 8MB, then to 16, then 32, then 64MB, which shows the ridiculousness of a card without a controller.
For this reason we called this SM card a pretty name: "SmartMerdia" which attracted the lightning of marketing people who tried to expalin to us the advantages of their choice.
With the passing of years, SmartMedia was nibbled away at by CompactFlash, more reliable and compatible, thanks to its integrated controller. Although this is not free from defects, and its write speed is slightly slower, it took a lead in many cameras.
For two years, SmartMedia was supported only by Fuji, Olympus, Ricoh, Sanyo and Toshiba.
Although the standard was stabilized an the compatibilities were made fewer, SM saw its position declining to CompactFlash, and the attackers Sony Memory Stick and the smaller and more powerful SD and MMC. Despite the denial of its supporters, SmartMedia slowly faded into memory.
Good-bye SmartMedia, hello XD!
As of September, a new card will be born: XD-Picture Card (or X-Data, according to its markings).
It will take its dimensions from the current MMC or a half of a Memory Stick and will profit from new technology which will enable it to have record capacities (several GB) and the fastest ever transfer speeds.
The contacts will be protected but the promoters of this new card, for reasons of cost, have chosen to preserve the principle of the external controller: let us simply hope that, this time, future evolutions will be better thought out!
This card should be marketed in many capacities: first the traditional 16, 32 and 64MB for telephones and the peripherals needing cheap removable memory, plus higher capacities: 128, 256, and 512MB and 1GB, then rather quickly afterwards 4 and 8GB!
As of the introduction, new cameras and 1GB cards!
Although it is not envisaged to discontinue SmartMedia in the immediate future, the majority of brands which currently use SM cards will adapt this autumn to the new XD-Picture Card. This is essentally equivalent to a discontinuation of the previous format.
The change will be made as the ranges are renewed and we particularly await a new generation of more compact cameras. In photography, the first brands to drop SmartMedia for XD-Picture Card will be Fuji and Olympus, undoubtedly followed by Ricoh, and probably Toshiba.
At Photokina at Cologne in September, the supporters of the new format should present new, more compact cameras using this new technology.
XD will support the miniaturization of cameras with access to video functions: still and video camera will soon merge into one.
Towards discontinuation of SmartMedia?
The replacement of SmartMedia in the new ranges by XD-Picture Card does not mean the inevitable death of SmartMedia...even if it is obvious that its days are consequently numbered.
SmartMedia should continue to feed the very broad range of cameras in service, and, even in the long term, no problems of provisioning should arise.
On the other hand, it appears relatively certain that there will be no more development fo SmartMedia by the manufacturers of cameras that hitherto ensured its promotion.
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Sounds very interesting... Unfortunately, this means no larger SmartMedia cards
. It also should mean entirely new cameras from Olympus
!
Regards,
photovoyager
Olympus C-2100UZ
Err... let me rephrase that...