SanDisk RapidGX Memory Stick PRO Duo cards trump Sony

If you want something done right, you'd better do it yourself. That's SanDisk's thinking anyways, with their new RapidGX Memory Stick PRO Duo cards they're showing at E3. The cards do the usual Memory Stick PRO Duo thing, namely providing music, movies and other content for PSP owners, but they include a bit of SanDisk special sauce performance enhancements to speed file transfers up to 15MB per second, double the normal rates for PRO Duo cards. Seems like they just got tired of Sony's limitations in the Memory Stick tech, and figured a way to improve it themselves. The 1GB card is all that's available right now, and it retails for $85. The price -- for a limited time only -- includes for free SanDisk's new MicroMate high-speed card reader to help the RapidGX hit its maximum speeds, and also includes PSP loader software to maximize space and convert files.

[Tareq @ May 10th 2006 8:07AM]

Good thing for memory sticks 1GB or higher.

[Geir E @ May 10th 2006 8:33AM]

My 2gb cards have '160 Mbps of theoretical transfer speed' :P (sony branded)

my 512mb cards (sandisk) doesn't seem to be faster or slower. but they are just 'high speed' versions, nothing fancy.

All my flash memory is memory stick. Engadgets favorite :P And I don't even own a PSP. just sony cellphone and soon sony alpha.

[Rob Stevens @ May 10th 2006 9:02AM]

Uh, your comments about Sandisk getting tired of Sony's limitations comes off as snarky, as well as ignorant. Sandisk developed the Memory Stick formats with Sony, including the Memory Stick Pro Duo, so it was only themselves they grew tired of.

[c @ May 10th 2006 9:20AM]

wtf i just bought a regular MSPD for $70 and EB games and they make a highspeed for $15 more!!!! the one i got was sandisk 2:(

[MarixD @ May 10th 2006 9:20AM]

Does anyone have an idea what the 2GB might cost?

[archie4oz @ May 10th 2006 9:54AM]

Yeah, I'm also finding the Engadget writers commentary becoming more and more lackluster... Do they do any research these days?

"The cards do the usual Memory Stick PRO Duo thing, namely providing music, movies and other content for PSP owners, but they include a bit of SanDisk special sauce performance enhancements to speed file transfers up to 15MB per second, double the normal rates for PRO Duo cards. Seems like they just got tired of Sony's limitations in the Memory Stick tech, and figured a way to improve it themselves."

The Memory Stick PRO specifications allow up to 19.7MB/s transfer rate (parallel signalling@40MHz), and secondly SanDisk already offers professional Memory Sticks in the 18MB/s range already. These (according to the SanDisk press release) are mainly more affordable MS PRO devices in the hi-speed category, and appear to be targetting PSP owners.

[Adam @ May 10th 2006 10:45AM]

It has GX on it so it must be good. Anything with the following letters must be better than it's competition:-

FX, GFX, SFX, NSX, GX, XP, XT, GT, GTO, GTi, i and RS. Oh and don't forget Nitro, Turbo and a picture of a lightning bolt.

Also they should have called it Turbo GX because Turbo is quicker than rapid. What kind of branding PR goons did they hire?!

Nice use of red though. Red = Speed/Danger...Dangerous Speed!

[GX @ May 10th 2006 11:40AM]

How do these sticks compare in speed to the Sandisk Ultra II Memory Stick Pro Duo? Faster?

Also, is this 1GB only, or are they making RapidGX versions of the 2GB and 4GB MSPD?

[Grant Guthrie @ May 10th 2006 1:28PM]

I just picked up a 2GB SanDisk Ultra 2 for $95 from Amazon. I guess this card is slightly faster, though probably more expensive than the just-reduced Ultra 2.

What I really want though is the tiny full-speed USB reader. Hooking up my phone through USB to act as the card reader isn't very fast.

[richard @ May 10th 2006 1:37PM]

I too am after the USB thingy.

[Jake @ May 10th 2006 3:07PM]

I couldn't find any real info on this thing anywhere. Did anyone have any luck? I'm interested in the little usb thingy and finding out more about what the "conversion software" mentioned in the article does.

[Grant Guthrie @ May 10th 2006 3:31PM]

Just a press release so far:
http://sandisk.com/Corporate/PressRoom/PressReleases/PressRelease.aspx?ID=3431

[marcus @ May 12th 2006 7:55PM]

Thats great but they fail to mention something I find most important about memory cards - POWER CONSUMPTION.
Do these Sauced up cards suck the battery up faster than the less saucy ones? If so how much? Last thing I want is a fast card in my Phone/PDA that sucks the battery down in half the time....