what chyou talkin about willis??

@helo

its a cool idea, and in a few years could potentially replace CDs....but honestly i think you might be getting ahead of yourself.

i worry about losing one of those things though. i keep mine in my digicam all the time, i don't think i've taken it out in 2 years lol

If And One (or other group I really liked) put out an SD Card album I would purchase it... but in reality I would then burn it to CD and/or put the mp3s on my mp3 player.

If we had SD Card readers on everything, it would be even less of a hassle. My computer doesn't have one (and I so do not need another USB device) but I have a PSP, PDS & camera.

My only real worries are about how volitile it is (how stable is the information? I don't want it getting erased) and the format (there are so many formats out there, it confuses me at times). Also the cost factor. At least right now it costs a bit for a decent SD Card, but then again I tend to look at 500mb and up

@ Cancer


Details here

@ L3thal

You might ne thinking of the MINI SD or XD cards. They are tiny!
The SD is larger and would have a protective case like this one

Obviously, we would customize them with logo, color, labels etc...

The music industry forced the manufactures from MMC card to SD cards for digital rights management reasons. The industry talk of the desire to move in that direction but costs were prohibitive. That is changing.. still a little higher than CD replication but I think the "cost" of piracy is greater!
The one "catch" would be that music would be 320kpbs MP3, AAC or WMA vice Wav...

I don't have an SD card reader because I don't use them and have no intention of using them.

Also you can put "Audio, Video, Applications, Web based interface and most importantly... Digital Rights Management"...content on CD's can you not? I've put videos and applications onto audio cd's before.

@ Denaes

Price would be the same for a standard EP release. However, SD cards are VERY reliable for long term storage and they never get scratched! :)
In my opinion, not too small but small enough to where you could keep 6 in the same amount of space that on CD takes...like in a little CD album/holder.

You could even transfer the data to your mp3 or PC and then just format the card and use it for whatever you like... and cheaper than buying a blank SD card from the local retailer. Or just use the remaining available space for whatever...

yeh i know what they are. just pullin your chain. has potential. if you think this will eliminate piracy then i want some of the crack your smokin , they will always find a way.

Also you can put "Audio, Video, Applications, Web based interface and most importantly... Digital Rights Management"...content on CD's can you not? I've put videos and applications onto audio cd's before.

Yeah, it's not uncommon to see a screensaver or video on an album/ep/single.

If 650-800mb is a sticking point, I'd personally rather see a move to DVD Audio. Those bitches can hold a lot of uncompressed audio and a lot of video/apps. about 6x as much as a 650mb cd for a standard dvr, 12x as much for a dual layered one like those that get professionally pressed or the newer DL DVDR's.

There is more market saturation on DVDs already to boot. I believe most DVD players are able to play DVD Audio and it's only a slight shift in mindset for people.

@ Sandy Claws

"...Digital Rights Management"...content on CD's can you not? I've put videos and applications onto audio cd's before."


Sure, but how much. CD's have a physical limitation. SD cards are already up to 4 GB. Not to mention No real rights management.

You could even transfer the data to your mp3 or PC and then just format the card and use it for whatever you like... and cheaper than buying a blank SD card from the local retailer. Or just use the remaining available space for whatever...

lol that was my first thought when you brought that up :)

How about DVD's since DVD readers are more common and they have better sound quality than CD's.

The music industry forced the manufactures from MMC card to SD cards for digital rights management reasons. The industry talk of the desire to move in that direction but costs were prohibitive.

erp, I missed that part.

If theres a good reason, I'm def not against it. I'm just worried about them being another minidisc

"I'm just worried about them being another minidisc" ha , thats what i was thinkin my brother from another mother

I think all humans should have to get cerebral cybernetic implants wich have audio capabilities. There would be a small microscopic speaker that would be intergrated into your ear canal. You would be able to make and receive cellular calls as well as recieve wireless downloads for your MP3s.

I seriously doubt SD cards will ever become that widely used. At least enough to bring the price down enough or drive the technology further. It seems to me that MP3 technology is leaning more towards the internal memory. There are 100 gig MP3 players on the market now. Of course the 60 gig ones are alot smaller. I think most people will find it hard to fill up a 60 gig one let alone a 100 gig one.

I agree that there should be a better fomat than CDs. I thought miniDiscs were pretty cool but that never panned out either. LOL

@ Cancer of the soul

Oh, I agree... there will ALWAYS be pirates out there, just less of them I'd hope.
Not like piracy for the masses like in the napster days.

@ Denaes

Agreed as well... but cost is a major issue there. And then there is the recording industry that will avoid it for obvious reasons.
We all know that online is the way of the future (like it or not).
I just can not fathom the idea that the youth of today do not want a physical medium to keep. I grew up with record and those crappy things called "tapes". I still cherish my record collection. What will today's' or future fans have... 6000 MP3 (or whatever) stored on a shitload of disks... most of which they will never listen to... not to mention the large % of folks that don't back-up data.... cripe... I just don't understand it.

@ R3pl1kazt47

"It seems to me that MP3 technology is leaning more towards the internal memory."

Sure, no stopping Hard drives driven devices! The MP3 player rules!
But, do you want to get your music via download only from now on?
Do you REALLY keep ever song you own on your MP# player?

I want my music on punch cards damn you!!!

I think most people will find it hard to fill up a 60 gig one let alone a 100 gig one.

Video killed the hard drive space.

I agree it's hard to fill 60gb of mp3s you'll actually listen to, but the newer models are often also video players and movies/shows kill that space fairly quickly.

who was it that said "record labels aren't in the business of selling music, they're in the business of selling little plastic discs", i think it was mark allen miller, or atleast he was in that thread, anyway, SD cards and minidisc are very good at storing data and keeping it from getting damaged, if you're in the business of selling plastic discs you want people to buy as many as possible. scratch a record, buy a new one, cassette gets eaten, buy a new one, cd gets scratched, buy a new one. it's the same reason tv's from 30 years ago still work yet tv's built today only last a couple years, cars too. there's too much money to be made in disposable media formats for them to ever switch over to secure formats or be beholden to a new data format and the patent owner of that format, be it sandisk, sony, or panasonic.

i'm still pissed at sony for their bullshit Proprietary data format and software that they attached to the minidisc, tried to reinvent the wheel and ended up shooting themselves in the foot instead.

@ Denaes

I am not talking about how you store the music, but how you get it.
Sure, there are people that will be happy downloading music for the rest of their lives, but the true music lover wants to have a physical release from their fave artist.
Time to sell the mp3 player and move to mp4! LOL Or... like Apple has done.. move to a Flash memory player like the Shuffle. :)

@helosix
I keep all my music on an external hard drive for backup and i have them all downloaded to my MP3 player as well.

@Denaes
Yes, but how many video type things are you really going to put on your MP3 player? I don't have any on mine and i don't plan on it. I very rarely, if at all, see people watching videos on their MP3 players. Usually i see people either playing video games on a Gameboy or PSP. I figure most people who have MP3 players just listen to music on them. And 100 gigs should be enough to suffice a persons portable habits. Personally, i need a large screeen to watch movies on. :)

I have an allergy for Digital Rights Management so no bloody way!

Yes, but how many video type things are you really going to put on your MP3 player? I don't have any on mine and i don't plan on it. I very rarely, if at all, see people watching videos on their MP3 players. Usually i see people either playing video games on a Gameboy or PSP. I figure most people who have MP3 players just listen to music on them. And 100 gigs should be enough to suffice a persons portable habits. Personally, i need a large screeen to watch movies on. :)

Personally, I don't use cable. I have it. I end up downloading all my TV shows because it's easier to watch them (like DVRing them) at my leisure. So I have a number of shows at a time on my iPod. Movies I have DVDs, but I'm paranoid so I have a few good ones I don't mind watching on my iPod just in case something comes up away from home.

Personally I don't think it's a huge issue with the iPod. Between the tiny screen, low battery life for video and them requiring you to use their obscure video format (often requiring time consuming conversion if it's not a direct DVD rip or iTunes download) , it's too much of a hassle for normal use.

Archos (and other more friendly companies) new MP3/Video player solves those problems by having a screen easily twice the size and accepts standard video formats. Not sure about the battery life though. I believe one model with an attachment works like a DVR and records from an A/V source live. People use these models for video a lot more.

For the most part, I use about 8gb of my mp3 player for music and most of that is wasted space as I ripped whole albums and I need to go and clean up tracks I don't listen to and create some useful playlists. But with maybe 15gb video for the iPod that leaves about 35-40gb on the hard drive. I use that as an external HD for my PC to back up documents I want saved and video files that spill off my hard drive.

But a lot of people don't realize or care that you can use an iPod like a hard drive to store data as well. But more people are catching on :)

@ Vidder
I have an allergy for Digital Rights Management so no bloody way!"

Why is that? What about it are you "allergic" to? What do you want to do that DRM prevents you from doing?

@helosix What about it are you "allergic" to? What do you want to do that DRM prevents you from doing?

In many cases w/ CDs it currently prevents cds from actually working properly in many players and putting your music on your digital player (mp3, ogg, whatever you want to ripp it to).

DRM for digital files is often rather restrictive like allowing music to only work with an app installed, or on the machine you purchased it on or only allow you a certain number of copies.

DRM is a waste of money, it can always be hacked.

@ Boiled Angel

That is the "plus" when it comes to Secure Digital, there is even Open Source apps for them. With a shitload of manufactures. Only cost's them $1000 annually.

And yeah, totally correct on the facts about "selling disks". Good thing SD cards can be lost. :P
The problem is that Americans don't buy them! The rest of the world (EU) still does though.

@ Evil-Anti-American

What waste?? Sure it can be hacked.. anything can. But I doubt my mother-in-law is going to hack it so she can trade them on line... like she did with Kaaza and Napster.
The DRM is built into the cards

@ Denaes

DRM for digital files is often rather restrictive like allowing music to only work with an app installed, or on the machine you purchased it on or only allow you a certain number of copies

putting limits is fine by me.... as for the crappy DRM on CD's, I agree. It sucks.

Maybe I just have sympathy for the artists.... in the old days it didn't matter, you could make mix tapes for anyone and the nobody cared. The quality sucked.
As you well know, the CD and Internet changed all that.

I have sympathy for the artists, but not enough to keep buying the same album over and over every time I need to copy the mp3s to restore for a problem or to fill my new mp3 player.

I know a few people that have had to purchase a song over again through iTunes because something happened to their iPod (lost, hd crash, upgrade). True, they only paid another .99 and didn't buy a whole nother album in this case.

@ Denaes

Agreed! And if you the music via SD card you wouldn't need too. Put the card in it's protective case or just store it with your CD's and you are all good.

(Not directed to you but just in general)
I think people have a misguided notion that they 'own" the music they buy.
We own a copy of the music. We can play it on our PC's, PDA, MP3 device, PS3, Car, whatever... but as for copying it to share with others, that "right" we do not, nor should have.

ooops... meant to say, "And if you get the music via..."

Agreed! And if you the music via SD card you wouldn't need too. Put the card in it's protective case or just store it with your CD's and you are all good.

If you can just copy the music off the disc, then how is it DRM protected?

Kinda like WMA's. you can xfer the music to your digital devices.

From the SD Assoc. site:
Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM), the copyright protection technology used for the SD Memory Card, is key to enabling a new distribution system for music and other commercial media, because it assures a high level of protection against illegal copying. The technology was developed by 4C (The digital contents copyright protection technology licensing organization of IBM, Intel, Matsushita, and Toshiba.)
Having a proven record in DVD, this protection is enhanced in the SD Memory Card through the use of "key revocation" technology that is built into the card.
The card's control circuitry allows data to be read and written (in its protection area) only when appropriate external devices are detected. A check-out (copying) from a PC to the SD Memory Card is restricted to 3 copies in compliance with the SDMI specification. All SD-Audio products comply with SDMI.
The SD Memory Card copyright protection function has the following features:
Access to the SD Memory Card must be enabled by authentication between devices
A random number is generated each time there is mutual authentication and exchange of security information

Honestly, the copyright protection is my reason for wanting to move in the SD direction. I don't even think I would use it unless our artist wanted to. I just like the capacity, size and potential for it. We could release what would be a 2 CD's on one disk and for less cost. And those saving could be translated to the customers.
Unlike other mediums, usage of SD is increasing... at least the use of the SD interface. (Audi even put an SD slot in car stereo).

SHIT... another typo...

"The copyright protection is NOT my reason..."

but as for copying it to share with others, that "right" we do not, nor should have.

maybe a bit strict words... as you aware there's a South Park episode that says it better than anyone regarding music copying/downloading. As for me personaly, i'm against all that copy protection systems - technical, legislative whatever. Yeah, maybe i'm that selfish person, but it's not very easy to get some licensed CDs and even once you've got them you find yourself being the only person in great area who owns for example Skm-Etr album. So what would you do? Head to your mate who would probably like it and to launch a full campaign in style of insurance salesman regarding PE genre?

@ Vidder

I don't follow?? And no, I don't watch South Park.
I still see no valid reason to allow individuals to do what they please with someone Else's intellectual property.

SD cards are rather costly, you're looking at about 29.99 cost for a 1GB card, with a retail price of about 39.99 to make any decent profit out of it. I just don't see how you'd be able to do this and survive. Not to mention consumers would be scrathing their heads at the idea....dumb questions like "can i play on my cd player?" I don't see it having an appeal and I personally think you'd be deep in the Red if you even try. But it is a good idea, if it had some marketing behind it (like if Sony started doing it haha!) and informed the people a bit better about it. And of course if SD was a bit cheaper of a format.

@ helosix

some stuff really needs to be distributed by non-commercial way because you know its kinda funny making a gig for 20 persons if none of your relatives is a politician of some kind.

And you should watch SP Episode 709 Christian Rock Hard ... just for good order sake.

@ helosix

some stuff really needs to be distributed by non-commercial way because you know its kinda funny making a gig for 20 persons if none of your relatives is a politician of some kind.

And you should watch SP Episode 709 Christian Rock Hard ... just for good order sake.

@ helosix

some stuff really needs to be distributed by non-commercial way because you know its kinda funny making a gig for 20 persons if none of your relatives is a politician of some kind.

And you should watch SP Episode 709 Christian Rock Hard ... just for good order sake.

@ Viscera Drip

Actually, they are A LOT cheaper than that. Yes, the retailers are raping you. The typical 500% mark-up.
With the capacity required for a high quality EP, the manufacturing cost is just slightly higher than CD replication. About the same when you factor in everything else (CD Mastering, printing, shipping, etc.) and the price keeps dropping as more and more manufacturer's come on line.
Sure there are always old fogies that still refuse to buy a CD player, let alone Secure Digital Cards.

whops! sorry my triple posting

As for the South Park episode mentioned, it was a funny episode, but failed to address how independent artists are affected by illegal downloading, the ones that pay rent, and live off of Ramen Noodles, and work full time jobs :)

Well, if you can afford it than by all means go for it!!! I just hope people will buy it, and that there is more push behind it too, so that it does well if you do decide to go that route. It is a very intriguing idea!

cover art on thumbnail size media is going to be really impressive.

@Viscera Drip

I can't and not willing to speak for all, but some of that independent artists with full time job told me they're not really trying to make any profit from cds or live gigs. They have that 'full time job' thing for it.

@Stevil

That's what I was thinking >:(

@ Stevil

LOL - Well, you remember the Zoviet France records released in Burlap and Sheet Metal? One can be creative. And then "cover art" can be included in the data, like in PDF format.. or whatever. Also, you can still sell them in Jewel Cases if you want to...

@ Vidder

"they're not really trying to make any profit from cds or live gigs"

Come on now, they are just saying that to make themselves feel better. To justify the time and money they spend. I can not imagine ANY artist that would not want to make enough money from their talents to live a true "artist" lifestyle!

I agree with you when you say thing should not be non-commercial. But moving to a format that will help them actually help protect them, even just a tiny bit, is a good thing.
As for the corp schmuck in the recording industry, with the multi-million dollar homes and 10 assistants.... while their artists drive a 78 Doge Van to gigs.... that is another story.

there are some DJs doing just that with the cards, i forget who, it was in one of the bazillion magazines i buy every week.

-eddie

The only thing I have found so far is the Rolling Stones compilation release on the Gruvi (miniSD) card. They shot themselves in the foot and over priced it.. 40$
And Disney released some kids stuff on SD... to be played on the Disney SD player... so, it is only the way.
Virgin and EMI are both going to release more artists on SD in the near future. However, on the mini-SD and then give you the free adapter.
I think they would be better off just going with SD... like previously mentioned, too small is too easy to lose. (maybe they hope that you do lose it) :)

@ Stevil

oh.. and those itunes tracks have great cover art! :P

we're not too far off from the florescant splinters of glass stuck behind the ear as seen in neuromancer. you can already fit 1gig microsd chips in your ear, now all we need are little hearingaid devices to slot them into.

@ Boiled Angel

Oh.. that here already.



people are already paying to have it implanted. And there is that guy that can control a PC using an implanted interface in his brain. Pretty cool stuff...

oh.. and those itunes tracks have great cover art!

& sound quality.

Coming soon: the mp3 breast implant - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/13/mp3_breast_implant/

time to get myself a set of my own boobs I think.

HAHAHA

Where do you think the headphone jack goes? :D

And when I die I will be recycled as hot dogs...I wonder how people can get so excited about technology....its just a tool, but too many base their lives upon it...my two cents, euros, pffenings, whatever Do you ever really see?

TommtT - I would love to hear what you think about this??

@1000yardstare

Because technology = possibilities and new ways to do things, good technology advances their area forward. That interests me enough.

CD's are much better for me...cause the technology is more consistent and been around and people all have something that can play cd's...or at least those who are serious about music...the mp3 only kids are usually people who just ride trends and think of music as disposable..
plus the overall package and the way you can fit a nice booklet and art in the CD is way beyond mp3 and the card you talk about....its just better the CD format...sorry...nothing has beaten that format yet...DVD is close though..
same thing!!!

I am sticking with cd's....I make enough sales off them and have a great customer base thats only growing here, so why fuck with it?

we like to use the term "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and cd's are the best way to go still...bar none...

Tommyt

Agreed, but it is "broke". People rip the CD and share it with the net?!

And, you can still sell them in a jewel case...

(I sound like a commercial for the SD card industry don't I?) :)

well mp3's have shown they have a lot over CD's otherwise they wouldn't be so popular.

I think to be a contender, the SD cards really need to have a lossless quality equal to or superior to CDs, which would mean a standard format be used for all of them.

@Deanaes

Well, you could place wav files on them... but, that is when cost does become an issue, as far as disc capacity.
I don't purchase via net download myself, aren't they all mp3 only? At what quality, 320 kbps?

oops... that's Denaes... sorry

Talk to some hardcore audiophiles. MP3 at 320 are still a lossy format and people can hear the difference in the sound.

I believe FLAC is a lossless format, but the files are larger.

Also DVDs can have higher quality than CDs can have and I'm not sure why/how their format differs from a CDs.

DVD-audio is 24 bit at 96 khz while i think cds are 16 bit at 44 khz.. You would think dvd-a would take off since everyone has a dvd player .. but i think as the improvement is not-noticable to almost everyone (as speaker response is never above that) + the DRM features prevent one from 'ripping' them into a standard format (i.e. mp3 for an ipod) they did not take off. + 2 competing formats (SACD,DVD-A) did not help at all.

I have to admit i can not tell the difference between non-vbr 320k mp3 and cd audio, but thats just me and my gummed up ears. I hope the original poster is not being serious about switching from CD to SD. CD is a burn/press *read only* format. It is much more stable than something that is basically glorified ram in a card. SD/CF/xSD are rated to only so many reads because of this format, which basically means if you "listen" to your SD music at some point the SD card will become corrupted/fail. CDs may suffer from bit-rot, but it is not nearly as volatile as SD cards.

nice reads guys....nods, and agrees...

I thought the next audio medium would be a 3" DVD or something. Smaller, with still more info than a CD.

But now with Blueray & HDDVD comming out, I don't know anymore.

sd cards are yesterdays news, with things like bluetooth its only a matter of time before it gets integrated into our ipods and we purchase the music from the web and it gets downloaded right into our players with absolutely nothing phsycal. I do not see the idea of loading hardware into hardware, eg. cds, casettes, vinyl sticking around for much longer.

I also see peoples mp3 collections coming off their computers and moreso onto their digital mp3 players - I hardly keep any music on my computer these days because the ipods etc have such a huge capacity to hold our music libraries that theres not point when I can just plug my ipod anywhere and access all my music instantly and apple even has these great ipod docks that sound phenominal and are tiny in size.

I would really like to see bands and labels embrace these mediums because there is so much we can do with it, instead of being trapped into the typical album artwork / lyrics / thankyous and a disc you can completely reinvent the way you get your message across and now have creative freedom to step away from only creating sounds to creating a brand for yourself. Audio is only 1 small section of what is possible to complete the 'experience'

I also see peoples mp3 collections coming off their computers and moreso onto their digital mp3 players - I hardly keep any music on my computer these days because the ipods etc have such a huge capacity to hold our music libraries that theres not point when I can just plug my ipod anywhere and access all my music instantly and apple even has these great ipod docks that sound phenominal and are tiny in size.

my collection is what is on the disks in my closet. my computer is the backup & indexed archive & the ipod is merely a portable tool for moving it around. my collection changes too much & i trust my ipod too little to have it be the backbone of my music library. i'd be fuxored many times over if i trusted my ipod to be my music collections main resource. hard drives & batteries fail. & apple 'service' loves to wipe out your content.

@ bloosqr

SD/CF/xSD are rated to only so many reads because of this format, which basically means if you "listen" to your SD music at some point the SD card will become corrupted/fail. CDs may suffer from bit-rot, but it is not nearly as volatile as SD cards.

That is true IF you are going to use the SD card on a regular basis. Meaning, formatting it over and over and writing to it all the time. If you do that the card will "wear out" (the actual technical term) over time. Any halfway-decent flash drive made within the past 2-3 years will have wear-leveling algorithms in it which minimize the impact of erasures. Each cell is rated at about 1,000,000 writes. This number is increased dramatically by the capacity card compared to the amount of data written.
Reading from the card does not cause wear at all... so, this is NO different than a CD.

but i think as the improvement is not-noticeable to almost everyone

Agreed, same goes for 320kbps mp3 or wma compared to a wav. A typical mp3 player with ear buds or through a PC sound card. Now if you play it on a high quality home stereo or sound system... you may hear some...

@ imfractured
sd cards are yesterdays news....I do not see the idea of loading hardware into hardware, eg. cds, cassettes, vinyl sticking around for much longer.

I couldn't disagree with you more. I can not even imagine a physical medium disappearing. Nor can I understand why? Are you going to cherish your mp3 collection in 30 years?? Will you still have most of what you purchased today?
I doubt it, unless you backed it up onto a physical format.

I still love looking at my record collection. :)

@tommyt

I am surprised at your take on this. I thought if anyone would like the idea of better copyright protection, it would be you.

Side-Line posts, always cutting edge

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/10/AR2006121001003.html

But speaking of cutting edge, all of this technology is going to be replaced by ancient greek technology, rediscovered.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/10/AR2006121000628.html

@ bloosqr

to kind of clarify what I said 3 posts ago... to sum (pardon the pun) it up:

If all you do is read (play audio or copy files from it) from the card, the life span of it can be longer than a CD.

@helosix: are you positive? There is a huge difference between burned in media and read/write media .. The analogy here w/ SD cards is perhaps cd-rw not cd. The reason why it is more volatile than cds is the SD memory bits are available to be flipped on write, which means inherently they are less stable than just burning 'holes' to represent the bits. (In this way a hard drive is less stable than a cd). I would be very surprised if for *read only* SD cards have a lifespan of over 10 years before thermal noise will ruin it. Btw (since i looked this up) the SD DRM/music format seems to incur a royalty rate and license rate if you go this route :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_Protection_for_Recordable_Media

@bloosqr

Well, technically.. you are correct. The CD (like a vinyl record) is more stable. Providing the material quality is good... If the reflective coating doesn't start flaking off or get scratched & bit-rot"
Again, the limitations of the SD card really only come into play when it comes to reusing the card over and over for write/erase operations. oh yeah... and cosmic radiation. (thanks Cisco :)

@ bloosqr

oh... as for the WM DRM... yeah, not a big fan of it... I just like the media format fo the SD. Like I said before, when you compare the manufacturing cost of an enhanced disk, multi-disk CD, shipping & storage to a single Secure Digital Card. I think the SD wins. But as we see here, will anyone buy it. As of today, maybe not too many. If the future, we will see...

I actually just read the SD white paper on "wear leveling" . .quite honestly I do not believe their numbers.. basically what they are saying is when a particular memory loc fails it rewrites to a different location so you are okay until you you run out of "memory" locations.. The cosmic ray issue is an extreme example of the problem w/ volatile memory (as opposed to burned media) (does SD have ECC correction at least? I know CDs have crazy amounts of redundancy/correction code) .. thermal noise also (w/in probability) contributes to *read corruption* which at the time periods they are talking about is more of an issue ..


the other problem that worries me about these SD things is now there are 9000 versions of SD .. the GF unit just bought a cheapish digicam this weekend and it uses something called xSD .. and i think palm pilots use miniSD?

that said now i am writing this i am probably being too cynical.. its a cool idea .. we will all dance to the sound of digicam! :)

If you do this for real btw as a promo or wahtever, look at the minimum royalty rates for encryption.. i just skimmed over it but i got the impression it was a $1000 base rate.. + a royalty rate.. this may be for the people making the players not the media but there are patents/licensing issues all over this stuff .. and it really could be both for content providers and for device makers.. :!

@ bloosqr

Here is a good article on the misconception related to Flash
http://www.mil-embedded.com/articles/authors/spanjer/


As for the diff versions of SD. There is only standard for SD and HCSD (High Cap SD 4GB<). The others are the mini and ultra-mini, made for cell phones. Notice though that most come with the SD adapter. :)

As for the licensing fee and all.... the G-spot is for the manufacturers. I am not sure about the DRM side of it (again, not really for that part of it yet... too many people scared of it and will shy away) I am in communication with the DRM expert on the SD Association. Waiting to get some answers from him.

@helo: that is a variation of the white-paper . .. the question is reads not writes .. with writes you are allowed to "wear level" that is as you get errors you move to a new logical portion of the sd .. that is how they get their ratings so high.. how does reading work? if I have a gig of space what percentage is redundancy? Is there ECC correction code .. like high end ram?

Just to be concrete, w/ the writes you assume if you get an error on write you are okay since you can remap elsewhere.. w/ a read if the data sends back an error or a fuck up.. then what? where does the *correct* data come from? CDs have redundancy built into it (something like 40% of the disk is correction code) .. as volatile memory is much more expensive i dont think SD has this level of redundancy.. (but i may be wrong)

@bloosqr

Depends on the manufacturer, most (if not all by now) SD cards do have the ECC function.

Okay cool... good to know

I'm sure that someone's already done this but with USB pen-drives...

I'd buy it if the music warranted it. Funky packaging is all well and good (and I'm a sucker for lim ed editions) but it's the music that matters, ultimately.

You lost me the moment you mentioned DRM.

Good idea, but

I think DVD-Audio is a better way to go though. All it would take is for one person to rip your album from the SD, then it'd be all over the P2Ps. Besides, putting your music in compressed 320 kbps format? Yuck. I'd rather do ATRAC.

Besides, remember when SM was the one that was on everything. No wait, now it's CF. No, wait now it's SD. What happens in 3 years when SD is replaced by the next thing and all your storage media is made obselete or requires a multi-adaptor? CDs/DVDs/optical media are going to be with us for quite a while in contrast.

Anyway, SD cards and all that are too common place. It's all about custom made, karmic-powered sound generators these days...

http://www.fm3buddhamachine.com/

Vinyl > FTW!

lol that would throw rightwing christian fundamentalists into a tizzy realizing that they have a little buddha in all their music :)