Sony rolls out speedy Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo cards

Sony first announced its speedy new Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo cards all the way back in December, but it's now finally gotten a bit more specific about them, including providing the all important details on pricing and availability. Set to be available in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB capacities, the cards boast a new 8-bit parallel interface that Sony says translates to a 30MB/sec transfer rate, which makes 'em about three times faster than the standard Memory Stick Pro. To take advantage of all that speed, Sony's also providing an ExpressCard adapter for the new Memory Sticks, although they will still be compatible with standard 4-bit parallel interface hardware, albeit at a significantly reduced speed. While there doesn't appear to be any word on how much the adapter will cost, you can look for the cards themselves to set up back $60, $90, and $150 for the 1, 2, and 4GB variations, respectively, with all three available in August.

[adam @ Apr 25th 2007 5:33PM]

Hard-Gay edition?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07W7-4Meffo
(work safe!)

[Dixonij @ Apr 25th 2007 5:34PM]

These names for the Memory Stick cards just keep getting longer and longer. But nice of Sony to make an adapter to handle the speed... if only they'd include it with the card itself.

[Joshua @ Apr 25th 2007 5:55PM]

I could care less about speeds and crap. I just want them to be as cheap as the SD variants.

[DTXSFC @ Apr 25th 2007 5:59PM]

Great another gen of crappy ms pro duo cards from sony. I'm pretty sure sonic stage and psp owners will have the same problem with this one as they did with the high speed ms pro duo cards. sony product not compatible with sony product (sad but true).

[farbod @ Apr 25th 2007 6:43PM]

Im a sony fan, but this is stupid. Instead of making gimicky cards that have speed no one can use with their current devices, why not make an 8gb card for $60, the same price as an 8gb sd card? Hmmmm, maybe because it wouldnt rape the consumer, something that these companies require every new product to do... Microsoft with there $200 120gb hard drive and sony with their $150 4gb memory stick... Thanks jerks...

[KC @ Apr 25th 2007 7:07PM]

These would work well in the new line of HD HDD camcorders (hdr-cx7) they just announced. 3 hours of HD recording on a 8 GB stick the size of your thumbnail is pretty impressive.

[Zeus the God @ Apr 25th 2007 9:37PM]

Well, I hope it's expensive as hell. I sold my PSP for a Zune because I couldn't find any 4Gb SanDisk memory cards. Now that I have had my Zune for a while, I don't think I would have ever bought a PSP had I known how great this thing is... (runs off listening to Cradle of Filth)

[Chuckles McGee @ Apr 25th 2007 10:04PM]

Uhp! Sony just introduced another proprietary memory format! Time to take another drink!-The Engadget Drinking Game

[Zeus the God @ Apr 25th 2007 10:34PM]

*GULP*

GAHH!!! ANOTHER, ANOTHER!!!

*Drinks from the hand of Sony*

*GLUG*

[WengOnline @ Apr 25th 2007 11:30PM]

More space, I can't even fill up my 512mb phone memory card. =)