On Thu, 19 Dec 2002 20:32:20 -0600 (CST), Chris Brogden wrote: >On Thu, 19 Dec 2002, John Mullan wrote: > >> xD memory is the newest player on the block. "eXtreme Digital" is >> designed with a capacity of up to 8GB. So far Canon and Fuji seem to >> be the only users. Given its small size, approximately the dimensions >> of a U.S. penny, squared off, I suspect it will be popular with other >> manufacturers soon. > >Actually, Olympus is the only current user of XD cards. You're probably >thinking of MMC/SD (MultiaMedia Cards and Secure Digital cards), which >Canon uses in their digital video cameras (not in their still cameras), >and which Kodak also uses in digital still cameras. I personally hate the >cards, as they're so small that they're easy to lose. > >BTW, don't count on ever seeing an 8GB version. Lots of cards have the >potential to reach massive storage capacity, but never go that high >because almost no one would buy them, or because the technology is later >found to be flawed. Look at Sony's Memory Stick. Sony had claimed >gigabyte capacity, but it doesn't look like they're going beyond 128MB. >The new (and largely incompatible) form of Memory Stick called Memory >Stick Pro will come out sometime next year, and that could conceivably >reach gigabyte+ capacities, but it's not really economically viable until >storage costs come down. > >chris >
The Fuji Finepix F402, 2650, A200, A203, A303, and 3800 as well as the Olympus C-50, C-730, and C-5050 all use the xD chip. Considering how memory prices have fallen, and as pixel count goes up, I expect to see 1 GB memory cards soon. Multi-Gigabyte memories are a little further out. I can remember spending several hundred dollars to add 16 MB to a PC. Now PC memory is dirt cheap. I expect flash memory to do the same. jm
