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SanDisk Spins SD/USB Flash Combo

Posted by timothy on from the but-where-fit-the-bits? dept.

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."

17 of 188 comments (clear)

  1. Really, really cool! by BobPaul · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Really, really cool! by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 3, Informative

      "Cheap with questionable performance"

      What are you referring to? I really haven't had problems with Sandisk.

  2. Cool, solves a problem by Lindsay+Lohan · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The new approach eliminates the need to use SD-to-USB adapters
    I think this would be great after taking pics, when you've left your camera's cable somewhere else, and you want to email them from a notebook, PC, etc.
  3. Nice idea, but at what cost? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How much more expensive are these going to be than normal cards? USB reader dongles can be had for next to nothing these days!

  4. which begs the question, by way2trivial · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Why isn't there a memory card format that's just a USB stub, and a small bit of chip- like a thumbdrive or a diskkey or usb drive or whatever they are called this week.

    how large does a usb key have to be- could it be made to go within a camera?

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    1. Re:which begs the question, by cozinator2 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Like this? http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/102/C3497/

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      Final Table Team - Poker Disc
    2. Re:which begs the question, by Spy+Hunter · · Score: 5, Informative

      Because until this year, nobody realized that you could make a thin plastic USB connector. If you think about a normal USB connector, it is actually much thicker than your average memory card, with its (relatively) giant metal rectangle. This year, a company called PQI realized that the metal part isn't actually necessary for the plug, and removed it. The result was this. Suddenly USB drives are actually smaller than and just as thin as regular memory cards! It's one of those great ideas that is obvious in retrospect. PQI has patented this design, and I imagine SanDisk has had to license it to create this super-awesome combined card.

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  5. Great by earthloop · · Score: 5, Funny

    Two days after I buy a new laptop with built in SD/MMC slot!

  6. More inforamtional pictures: by zoftie · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.sandisk.com/pressrelease/20050106a.htm

  7. Re:pendrive by Anonymous+Luddite · · Score: 5, Insightful

    >> 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.

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  8. Looks fragile by Doppler00 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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?

  9. Its been done... by Ojamin · · Score: 3, Informative

    Its been done before.

    http://www.pdalive.com/showarticle.php?threadid= 77 39

  10. SD == DRM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:SD == DRM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Ridiculous statement. 99% of all card readers can not even access the secure area of the SD card. There are less than a handfull of products out there which are even using the secure area of an SD card. One of which is for mobile phones, the other I know if was for some RealAudio product.

      A generic SD card can typically have a much higher throughput than a CF card.

      If you want to reject DRM :) reject the subscription services, not the SD cards.

  11. Re:Nice idea, but at what cost? by Bishop · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  12. Re:It's a cartel by Migraineman · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  13. Rubbish by roesti · · Score: 3, Informative
    The wide adoption of SD (which means Secure Digital, and not SanDisk) is the next step towards putting DRM control around our data.
    This is totally incorrect. If you're referring to the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), they gave up on DRM about four years ago when their watermarking scheme was ruthlessly cracked. The group has been totally inactive since May 2001.

    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.

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