...Sony's Memory Stick format

[Joseph D'Ambrosio]

I too have been opposed to Sony and their proprietary memory card format for many years. At one time the price differential between SD/CF and Sony media was huge! Nowadays, however, you can get a memory stick for not much more than an SD card if you shop around. (BTW I have a Sony Clie PDA which I dearly love but Sony decided not to market in the US any longer).

As much as I have advised my friends away from Sony cameras because of the memory card issue I recently broke down and bought an H2!!! I have wanted to pick up a megazoom digital for a while but nothing I tested really fit the bill until the H2. I have had the camera for 2 weeks only but I love it already and I guess I will just have to break down and buy an extra memory stick or two! To be perfectly fair, Sony was in on the ground floor with removable memory cards and I suppose one could argue that many of the companies that have gone to SD or xD should have used the memory stick format! Unless I am mistaken the Sony sticks were out long before the SD or xD cards!

 

[sdboyd79]

Memory Stick were out about 2 years before SD but came out about a year after MMC, from which SD is derived. All were out long before xD. But, I do understand that Sony was around early and if everything was MS, I'd be just as happy. Even though I own no Memory Sticks now, I'm sure it would have been a different story had MS emerged as a sort of standard in the beginning. Since SD somewhat more universal, I'm at the point where I'm at today. Standardization, in any format, would be better than having to maintain different sets of memory cards.

As said before, this whole issue is not limited to Sony. I'm not a fan of xD either and it's a reason I passed on an F10, which is supposed to be a wonderful camera. I just hate feeling limited.

On a side note, does Sony have anything similar to SDIO? It's amazing what I can just plug into my PDA's SD slot with SDIO support. Another interesting thing is the SD cards that fold out into USB connectors. VERY handy to have and I was curious if there are similar Memory Sticks. I suppose I'll go look right now.

Steve
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[Sonyad]

Steve I used to enjoy piecing together computer systems for home. I'ts only been a few years, but the ram has changed, the video ports have changed, the motherboard form factors have changed which means you have to get a new case and power supply and of course the hard drive interfaces are changing.

Buy whatever camera feels right to you. All memory prices are quite reasonable these days although some are cheaper than others. Buy only what you need and stop hoarding.

 

[sdboyd79]

I'm well aware of things rapidly changing and no doubt in the future there will be no more SD or Memory Sticks in favor of something new. I'm not debating that fact. It's not about technology evolving in this case. These are parallel technologies that are similar to each other. Maybe they should all get together in a big group hug and come to an agreement on a memory standard.
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[s_grins]

Usually I by memory card to a camera of my choice. I never ever use this card with other camera.
Stupid I am.
Well, if you cannot live without CD card, go for R1.
It has 2 memory slots: one for MS, second for CD.
Furthermore, you can shoot JPG's on MS and RAW files on MS or vice versa.

 

[HUM469]

That is strange then that yours does not have it. Gateway has always used only a couple of readers that I am aware of. The 4 in 1 reads SD, MMC, MS and MS Pro. The 5 in 1 ads support for Xd, and the 6 in one drops the XD but adds support for CF and Microdrives. When I said all the laptops at Best Buy had MS slots, I ment currently. My old HP laptop bit the dust, and had to be replaced this month, and I litterally looked at every unit availible in two different Best Buy stores before I made up my mind on which model I wanted (and they did not have in stock!). Most of the laptops even had the little MS logo on the side, the little stylized M with the three lines under it. But those that did not, still listed it in their stats, and I could see that the slot would fit it. Now more than a year ago, I don't know for sure all that Gateway offered, but the Best Buy web site agrees with me that currently, all Gateway models have one of the three readers I described. It is unfortunate that yours did not have it, I am perplexed as to why they left it out. I remeber several years ago when I looked at them (back when they were closing all the Gateway stores) and they only had slots for MS. I guess it just goes to show you can't ever predict technology with any real certainty!