Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Microdrive Technology Rebounds Thanks to iPod Mini

Posted by timothy on from the 4-gigs-for-cheap dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A few years ago Richard Menta over at MP3 Newswire did a lengthy review on the IBM Microdrive and declared it would significantly alter the MP3 portable market if IBM did one thing - drop the price. That never happened and it prompted Menta last year to declare the iPod's more cost effective Toshiba drive made it moot and he put the Microdrive on his 2002 MP3 loser list. Since then the drive technology was acquired by Hitachi who convinced to Apple to use it for the iPod Mini. The Mini's recent success prompted Menta to revisit his previous write-off. Interesting view of the up and down travils of any technology and how each change can have dramatic effect on its success and failure."

17 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. Pretty annoying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I just bought a 4 GB Microdrive on eBay for $299, before running across this article that explains how to get a 4 GB Microdrive for $50 less than the going eBay price by buying and taking apart an iPod Mini.

    Apparently all of the 4 GB Microdrives on eBay were obtained precisely this way.... which may explain why the iPod Mini has sold out everywhere despite being a relatively-bad deal compared to the 15 GB model. Hitachi is clearly selling these drives to Apple at or near a loss, for whatever strange reason.

    1. Re:Pretty annoying by TheKidWho · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually they were taking the hard drives out of the Muvo2 not the ipod mini.

    2. Re:Pretty annoying by aardvarko · · Score: 5, Informative

      The seller more likely obtained it from a Creative MuVo, as the Hitachi drive in the iPod is missing some aspect of the standard IDE controller used in most CompactFlash cards and drives.

    3. Re:Pretty annoying by aardvarko · · Score: 5, Informative

      Professional photographers tend to use either:

      512MB Lexar CFs, or
      1GB MicroDrives.
      (Or film. ;-)

      Larger flash cards offer drastically diminishing return, making it harder to carry around ten or twenty of them.

      MicroDrive users tend to be either desperate for storage or more careful with their cameras (as they aren't as shock-proof). (You won't see many pho/journs with a MicroDrive.)

      For the existing MicroDrive users, this 4GB "hack" is a huge boon - given that many current cameras write 10-20MB photographs (in RAW format), the ability to take more than fifty photos between card changes is a bit of a nicety. This likely won't impact current flash card users, though, as the 4GBs are just as damage-prone as the 1GBs.

    4. Re:Pretty annoying by gordguide · · Score: 5, Informative

      " ... Apple at or near a loss, for whatever strange reason. ..."

      Hitachi is making money off the drives they sell to Apple, in the quantities Apple is buying. It's called manufacturing.

      The "part" you bought cost more in single, packaged, retail distribution channels just like any other part does; it's called retail.

      Wanna buy a new car? Buy it in single parts, forget about the labour (we'll assume it's free) and you will have spent who-knows how many times more than a showroom example when you're done.

      Want to manufacture cars? Buy it in quantity parts, factor in the labor, and it will still be cheaper than your one-off.

      The wholesaler's markup on parts (let alone the retail markup) is about the same as a new car dealer's gross markup. Apple isn't even paying a wholesaler, but you did.

      Unlike the original iPod (where Hitachi gave Apple a 1-year exclusive to the 5GB & later larger HDs, from spring 2001 to spring 2002, so that other manufacturers couldn't buy it initially and all prices were lower 1 year later than Apple paid at first in quantity) you can actually buy a 4GB drive retail; pretty much simultaneously with the introduction of the iPod mini.

      So, instead of Apple paying down the cost to ramp up production by itself, like it did with the original iPod's drive, you just paid for some of it. By the way, thanks from all of us.

      Technical analysis of the original iPod (reports cost thousands, I saw them at work) reveal Apple is pricing the iPod twice as low as normal manufacturing practice in electronics (parts cost is just over 50% of retail, compared to the 20~25% typical in consumer electronics); perhaps you're just a victim of Apple pricing lower than the norm in the industry. (I know it sounds crazy, but that's what the data reveals).

  2. Hrmm by TheKidWho · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hrmm... this got me thinking... Is it possible to replace the 4gb iPod Mini HD with one of those new 8gb CF cards?

    1. Re:Hrmm by aardvarko · · Score: 5, Funny

      iPod Mini (silver): $249
      Lexar 8GB CompactFlash: $3000 [1]
      Case of Zima: $24
      The look on your face after it's stolen from your messenger bag: Priceless


      [1]: http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/news/articles/stor y_934.html

  3. Versus "normal" hard drive based mp3 players? by dnobel · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Does anybody know if these smaller microdrive based mp3 players are less prone to damage due to physical shock versus an ipod or nomad zen like device?

    1. Re:Versus "normal" hard drive based mp3 players? by CAlworth1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      >>I have never heard of anyone breaking an iPod by jogging with it.

      Nor have I, and I have owned two, and know probably 20 to 30 people with them, and have never heard of any hard drive failures. Battery problems, perhaps, but these are regular computer users with very little idea about what they should expect from a product, so they keep buying. Short of near-catastrophic failure, they aren't going to quit using them, or quit suggesting them any time soon I think.

  4. How crash resistant are microdrives? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm always wondering if these drives can experience crashing or data corruption if it gets hit hard while it's running? Is it really a spinning hard drive or is it something else?

  5. Think outside the square by powerpuffgirls · · Score: 5, Insightful

    MicroDrive won't be successful as a storage because nobody really needs to carry that much data around. When iPod comes in, it changed the use of such device, and people do have needs to carry that much of music around.

    Similar to Acer's latest monsterous laptop, which is so heavy and short of battery life. Most people said it is too heavy and short-life to be carried around, but in reality this laptop is not designed for you to carry around and use it in pubs, cafe or buses, instead it is for people to move from point A to point B, and station it on a desk again. This immediately changes its intended use and market.

    1. Re:Think outside the square by unfortunateson · · Score: 5, Insightful

      On the other hand, the current generation of pro-level (11+ megapixel range) digital cameras take 35MB raw-mode photos. A 4GB Microdrive becomes indispensible.

      A couple of the newest MP3 jukeboxes have 20GB and firewire for upload/download of not-neccessarily-music files and are even better.

      --
      Design for Use, not Construction!
  6. IBM Storage Tech in Mini-ipods? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well I'm sure the RIAA will love the self-destructive nature of those drives

  7. SCO starts selling iPod Mini licenses by azuroff · · Score: 5, Funny

    From the press release:

    "IBM had access to the SysV source code. IBM also developed the MicroDrive. Therefore, the MicroDrive is obviously a derivative product, and we believe that all iPod Mini owners now owe us $699."

  8. Re:PDAs? by Fiveeight · · Score: 5, Informative

    I know someone who used a 1 gig microdrive as storage for their Toshiba PocketPC. Reduced the battery life by 50% if you used the disc much, and it got very hot. The big storage capacity was nice, but it wasn't a very effective tradeoff. Bigger CF cards are probably a better solution for most people unless the 4+ gig drives use a lot less power.

  9. A new floppy drive by cybermint · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In this day and age, where computers are so widely used, and our data integrity is vital, we still rely on data storage methods that use moving parts. Nothing lasts forever, but magnetic media always has a nasty habit of failing much sooner, mainly because it still relies on a system vulnerable to friction. Now microdrive technology is rebounding? When is this dinosaur going to die!? Then again, maybe that's the reason it's still around. If it didn't fail, we wouldn't have to buy a new one.

  10. "Thanks" to iPod? by Dan+East · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Perhaps the reason Microdrives fell out of favor wasn't just the price point. With the exception of raw data transfer speed, solid state Flash memory is superior in every way. Portable devices are battery constrained, subjected to extraordinarily rough treatment and great temperature extremes. Flash memory is many times better than MicroDrive in all those critical areas.

    Finally, Microdrives are fading away because flash memory capacities have been increasing as their cost decreases (in addition to the hardware advantages). All we are seeing here with the iPod Microdrives is a temporary reduction in cost-per-byte over flash memory. This artificial bubble will not last, and flash memory will (continue to) dominate in the long run.

    Dan East

    --
    Better known as 318230.