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SanDisk Spins SD/USB Flash Combo
An anonymous reader writes "Flash memory pioneer SanDisk has created an innovative memory card packaging technology that enables memory cards to plug into both SD card slots and USB ports. The new approach eliminates the need to use SD-to-USB adapters when accessing the contents of an SD card on a laptop, PC, or other system that lacks an integrated SD card slot."
Wow! That is really cool!
SanDisk just went from "Cheap with questionable performance" to "Inovitce product designer"
Just goes to show you that the best ideas really are the simple ones.
About time? Seriously its pretty cool, except that canon cameras take compact.
Oh well, others probably to follow suit.
p.
How much more expensive are these going to be than normal cards? USB reader dongles can be had for next to nothing these days!
And I thought my PQI stick was small...
hehe...you said your stick was small
how large does a usb key have to be- could it be made to go within a camera?
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Two days after I buy a new laptop with built in SD/MMC slot!
I saw this a few days back on The Register - it's a very neat design, and eliminates this USB reader I've got on my desktop at the moment. The one thing I would be concerned about is how fragile it might be - I can imagine plugging this into my laptop and the connector snapping away from the card, especially given it doesn't have the surrounding metal case around the USB plug. ...still, I suppose that's a risk with most of the USB dongles I carry around, and it hasn't happened yet.
http://www.sandisk.com/pressrelease/20050106a.htm
>> woo. a pen drive, how innovative.
a pen drive the size of a fricken postage stamp that happens to fit right inside my camera.
I'm impressed. and looking forward to owning this - I find myself transferring pictures directly from the camera to a PC often, and it wastes charge on my batteries. This won't.
So yeah, it is innovative.
http://request-header.info
maybe b/c you don't travel much...
I can't remember how many times I've taken pictures on vacations and remote locations, and forget to bring the cable with me. I end up juggling which photos I want to keep and which ones I'm willing to sacrafice. Especially helpful when a friend wants the photo as well, you can upload it to them right there without the hassle of having to get the cable.
Sure this is great for the camera, but I'm thinking about using this to replace my USB key. so much smaller, I could probably hide it in my wallet.
Great idea, but USB ports are often bang-next to other ports, so the other plugs could obstruct it, and front-panel recessed ones may be too near the edge of the recess to fit the extra width of this gizmo.
I don't know, but when you start introducing mechanical components to memory devices you're asking for trouble. This device looks pretty fragile, the hinges look like plastic, how long could something like this possibly last?
This looks more like a solution looking for a problem. How difficult is it really to plug a memory card into a USB adapter?
Its been done before.
= 77 39
http://www.pdalive.com/showarticle.php?threadid
Avoid SD cards at any cost. The wide adoption of SD (which means Secure Digital, and not SanDisk) is the next step towards putting DRM control around our data.
More info are contained in the official SD and SDIO complete reference, which -surprise- is neither open nor free, and costs big bucks/NDA signing to get.
My answer is thanks but no thanks, I'll stick with more versatile, cheap and open supports such as Compact Flash.
That was my first impression but after thinking about it I changed my mind. Most users are only going to have a few SD cards. Usually just the one they have in their camera and maybe a spare. For these users having an integrated usb reader is very convinient especially if you are on the road and want to transfer pictures to a friend's computer. With regards to cost as you pointed out USB readers are pretty cheap. It probably costs next to nothing to add the USB bit. (A quick check of a local shop shows SanDisk SD cards are just slighly more expensive then similar USB drives.) I would guess that there will be a higher markup for the convinience factor, then the cost of adding the USB.
If these USB/SD cards become popular I predict that some camera maker will drop the USB interface from their cameras.
Don't discount the convinience factor. For a few bucks extra I would by a device like this. If only so that I didn't have to remember to bring the card reader.
It looks really cool and I want one but they are so small I would worry about losing it unlike my jump drive that takes SD cards.
One problem I've noticed, especially with the 'designer' PC cases is that the front USB ports are impossible to plug anything except a cord into.
00110100 00110010
The SDA is a cartel, plain and simple. The Host/Anciliary License Agreement (pdf) is truely draconian. In addition to paying the annual extortion fee, you have to agree to license any new developments back into the cartel. You're also prohibited from disclosing any details about SD cards. So once you're a member of the cartel, you pretty much can't work on any open-source SD-related projects. There are even "antitrust guidelines" published by SDA because they're dangerously close to crossing the line.
Very nice design.
They were about 2 years late to market. I don't know of any consumer devices that use iStick flash. Not one. I guess they weren't too good at marketing this to consumer electronics designers either.
It's too bad, because I have several of those little cards - they are very handy as a flash disk. They are so small I can keep one or two in my wallet. They are smaller than any other USB flash disk because they don't have the shield part of the connector - the whole thing is <3mm thick.
Good design, bad marketing. Sandisk might do better, since their's works in existing cameras.
[Then try MMC]
I'm a sci-fi vegan: I don't want the aliens to think we have as much right to live as the fried chickens we eat.
Oh yeahhh.... I have a vision of a USB pen sticking up on top of my digital camera... just like i would have flash bulbs stiking on top of my old film camera...
... I just gave away a good idea....
Theres no way you want a generic usb plug on your camera to replace your media. You want your media to fit tightly inside your camera.
Now, they could put a USB host interface on the camera so that you could transfer your pictures onto your usb pen or your ipod photo or the latest portable media player. But thats something else...
In this case they could even do without removable media and just have a fixed flash memory inside.
That would be really innovating...
F**k
At the same time, the folding design is interesting. Cool stuff scandisk.
The scandisk SD to PC card adaptor I have works well enough, but I've had problems fdisking a 512 SD card. It worked but it hurt. Cfdisk could not deal with it so I had to use regular fdisk to set up a ext2 partition, which I then was able to format and mount without a problem. At the same time, I've never had similar problems with CF.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
It would be nice if they released cards like this in other formats, like CompactFlash.
Nowadays, lots of devices use Secure Digital cards, but mostly because of the "cool" factor: they're a lot smaller than Compact Flash cards, and the capacity of SD cards isn't that far behind that of CF cards. I was looking at a couple of MP3 players that use SD cards, and none of them had DRM at all. Just copy your MP3 files to your SD card, whack it in your player, and hit Play.
Hence, the schism that Secure Digital really means DRM does have a historical basis, but it has little relevance today. The idea that using SD cards in modern devices will smite your with a plague of DRM is just rubbish. For the purposes of keeping digital photos or music, SD is storage, and nothing more.
Attack its weak point for massive damage!