I'm not really sure i understand the concept.. so my choices are buy a single use card with a 1GB capacity for $6, or buy a 1GB card which i can use pretty much indefinately for nearer to ten dollars, offloading data onto a hard drive and much cheaper CDs / DVDs for backup (where its more useful anyway)?
What's the target market? It isn't like SD cards are ruinously expensive anyway. It just seems like another way to build clutter and waste materials...
The point of write-once is for archival storage, though if it's magnetic, you'd still have to take care of the media. 1GB in the form factor of a postage stamp (if they branch off of SD-card) is a far cry from a 700MB optical CD that has a far shorter shelf life than originally thought or designed for. Even 5 of these is smaller than a 4.7GB single layer DVD -- it's only when you get to a 9GB dual layer DVD or larger (Blu-Ray & HD-DVD, et al) that the data density turns around in optical's favor.
I would guess the target market are people who don't have enough memory with them on a longer vacation. Seems a bit odd to think this is even worth it, but what do I know.
Environmentally, I can't imagine its a good idea....
I imagine those camera makers would like this. Instead of a useless tiny card (or onboard store) they can bundle in a one way card. Well actually I imagine camera retailers would like this. I could totally see this becoming a requirement to sell a camera in a big box store. Kind of like how printers don't have usb cables so the stores can sell you them (at massive markup).
How long before there comes a new format (using the same technology) for distributing content? Think about this: if they make a 64GB write once flash card - in whatever form that might be - and load a hi-def movie on it, this could be the beginning of the end of HD-DVD/Blu Ray or any other optical media. Mark my words on that...
To top it off, think about the archival benefits for large corporations that still use tape based storage. Better yet, think how much music stores could save on shipment/stocking of music if it was all in a smaller form factor (granted, you still need the booklets to fit somehow).
Possibilities with this tech is endless, and also a great for photographers like myself who could just run into a supermarket and buy new "film", load it. For sure, you might be able to buy a cheap CF/SD card, but for those of us that got burnt with cheap storage and corrupt files as a result this seems like an ideal solution.
This tech will come soon, and I'm looking forward to it :D
And to add another thing, the write once flash memory could be embedded into a disposable digital camera, so you could possibly walk into a supermarket and buy a 5mpx digital camera with 100 shots, waste it, and drop it off to your lab where I'm sure there will be a method of extracting data, printing and burning onto a cd and recycling the camera.
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I'm not really sure i understand the concept.. so my choices are buy a single use card with a 1GB capacity for $6, or buy a 1GB card which i can use pretty much indefinately for nearer to ten dollars, offloading data onto a hard drive and much cheaper CDs / DVDs for backup (where its more useful anyway)?
What's the target market? It isn't like SD cards are ruinously expensive anyway. It just seems like another way to build clutter and waste materials...
wut he said.. ^ This sounds dumb. And how much money did they waste developing the tech to write "once"?
The point of write-once is for archival storage, though if it's magnetic, you'd still have to take care of the media. 1GB in the form factor of a postage stamp (if they branch off of SD-card) is a far cry from a 700MB optical CD that has a far shorter shelf life than originally thought or designed for. Even 5 of these is smaller than a 4.7GB single layer DVD -- it's only when you get to a 9GB dual layer DVD or larger (Blu-Ray & HD-DVD, et al) that the data density turns around in optical's favor.
I would guess the target market are people who don't have enough memory with them on a longer vacation. Seems a bit odd to think this is even worth it, but what do I know.
Environmentally, I can't imagine its a good idea....
Tony,
DVD-r's can be had for 27 cents a disc. What's the advantage again?
I imagine those camera makers would like this. Instead of a useless tiny card (or onboard store) they can bundle in a one way card. Well actually I imagine camera retailers would like this. I could totally see this becoming a requirement to sell a camera in a big box store. Kind of like how printers don't have usb cables so the stores can sell you them (at massive markup).
How long before there comes a new format (using the same technology) for distributing content? Think about this: if they make a 64GB write once flash card - in whatever form that might be - and load a hi-def movie on it, this could be the beginning of the end of HD-DVD/Blu Ray or any other optical media. Mark my words on that...
To top it off, think about the archival benefits for large corporations that still use tape based storage. Better yet, think how much music stores could save on shipment/stocking of music if it was all in a smaller form factor (granted, you still need the booklets to fit somehow).
Possibilities with this tech is endless, and also a great for photographers like myself who could just run into a supermarket and buy new "film", load it. For sure, you might be able to buy a cheap CF/SD card, but for those of us that got burnt with cheap storage and corrupt files as a result this seems like an ideal solution.
This tech will come soon, and I'm looking forward to it :D
You're dead on. Heck, you can pick up a $5.49 1 GB rewritable SD card from newegg already...
And to add another thing, the write once flash memory could be embedded into a disposable digital camera, so you could possibly walk into a supermarket and buy a 5mpx digital camera with 100 shots, waste it, and drop it off to your lab where I'm sure there will be a method of extracting data, printing and burning onto a cd and recycling the camera.