Media Cards and Readers Buying Guide Chart August 2001 PDF Format [13k]

All digital cameras, including many new miniDV camcorders with a still picture option, generally have some form of miniature storage media that go by various brand names like "eFilm" or "IntelliFlash" and/or industry standard terms like "SmartMedia" or "CompactFlash." The higher end devices may use "PCcard" or "Microdrive" storage, which are as large as 1GB.

Some cameras even allow transfer of your stored images or other data via a serial cable and special software. The most popular method, though, and likely the best long-term, is by using an external "media reader" device which connects via USB or FireWire to your PC, and transfers the data from the storage media into your computer. Since most of these media readers (and reader/writers) are highly similar in nature and performance, a comprehensive chart of available products is included (see opposite page) but we won't go in detail as to the specific differences of each of these products.

Understanding formats

Since there are so many formats available, we'll try to explain the differences of each as simply as possible. Often the only real difference is not in performance but in which company developed the technology (such as Sony's Memory Stick), or whether it's an industry-wide standard. The primary difference with each type is price and capacity, with storage amount indicated by either megabyte (MB), or now gigabyte (GB). A 256MB storage card is comparable to roughly 177 traditional 3.5-inch floppy disks.

(Editor's Note: Price per MB was calculated by combining average national U.S. pricing at major online and photo chain retailers with lowball/grey-market resellers to arrive at dollar figures shown. As in all things, these are for example only, and have likely changed significantly since this article was written. Use the links below to find current pricing.)

CompactFlash

CompactFlash (CF) is a small form factor (about the size of a matchbook) that combines non-volatile and industry-standard compatibility. Because they are designed per guidelines set by the CompactFlash Association (compactflash.org), all-certified CompactFlash cards will work with any CompactFlash-compliant device. CompactFlash cards are available in capacities ranging from 8MB to 320MB. As of December 2000, CF as a format, has about 42% of the worldwide micro-storage market, according to a bulletin published by IDC, making it the most popular type (comprises both Type I and II formats).

CF was first introduced in 1994 by SanDisk. CompactFlash have 50-pin connectors, and are about half as thick as a PCMCIA Type II card, but when used with a PCMCIA adapter, the pins are compatible with 68-pin PCMCIA port pins. The name comes from the fact that CF cards are designed with flash technology, a non-volatile storage solution that does not require a battery to retain data indefinitely.

CF cards are also a popular solution because CF storage products are solid state, with no moving parts, and provide much greater protection of data than magnetic disk drives. They are up to ten times more rugged and reliable than disk drives including those found in PC Card Type III products. CF cards consume only five percent of the power required by small disk drives which make them ideal for digital cameras without external power packs. CF cards also have an on-board controller chip to ensure compatibility across CF-enabled storage products.

Over 150 digital cameras currently use the CF format for image storage, as well as 70 handheld and palm PCs, and 80+ other platforms like the Kodak personal picture maker and Thomson-RCA eBook.

CompactFlash has one of the lowest costs for miniature-media, which is roughly 70-cents per MB (128MB cards).

Memory Stick

Developed by Sony, and common in their newest digital devices, and miniDV camcorders for still image capture, the Memory Stick is a little smaller than a stick of chewing gum. Capacity runs from 8MB to 64MB. A 16MB Memory Stick has 10 times the storage of a floppy disk, and it's compact, rugged, reliable, and has erasure prevention. It has an on-board controller that ensures compatibility with numerous consumer electronic devices. The Memory Stick format is rugged enough to keep in pants pockets or auto glove boxes without worry of damage, unlike SmartMedia cards (below).

The benefit for Sony customers is that it creates a common rugged format for both music, image and other content devices, including multiple-purpose products.

Average cost of Memory Stick media is roughly $1.10 per MB (128MB sticks).

Microdrive

One of the most important advances of recent years in miniature-storage is IBM's amazing Microdrive. Imagine 1GB of storage in about half the space of a 3.5-inch floppy, and about twice as big as a quarter dollar, but holding the equivalent of almost 700 diskettes of data! As an indcator of how popular this technology is might be the fact that as of this writing the 1GB model is out of stock and back-ordered at 4 out of 5 resellers we looked at.

Essentially the Microdrive is just what the name implies, a micro-sized hard drive which works essentially the same way that the hard disk in your computer does. Using tiny magnetic disks, data is written to and saved. It's designed to be a hundred times more rugged than an internal PC hard drive which would suffer if bounced around on a shoulder like the typical digital camera might. It's also smaller and lighter than comparable PCMCIA PC card storage (see below)

At a cost of from 66-cents (340MB form factor) to as little as 43-cents per MB (1GB form factor), it has one of the lowest overall price for high-density miniature portable storage. IBM also sells the Microdrive with an optional CompactFlash adapter for use with CF-compatible media devices.

MultiMedia Card

MMC is a newer format, and is somewhat like both CF in size and technology, but is also being used for multiple-use devices in much the same way as Sony's Memory Stick. Additionally, a secure form is available called SD Memory (see below).

This format is used by camcorder makers such as JVC for capturing still images in much the same way Sony uses its Memory Stick in its brand of DVcams. Data transfer rate is about 2Mbps.

It's a solid-state device and is available in 16MB to 64MB capacities (128MB on the horizon). It's a closed case like Memory Stick, so it's a rugged format like Memory Stick and is also being used for PDAs and cellphones. Cost per MB is roughly $1.15 (64MB format).

PC Card

A PC Card is essentially a PCMCIA card, about 5mm thick, and so fits any standard Type II slot such as those commonly found on almost every notebook PC. These drives are available in typical sizes from 260MB to 2GB, with the lower end generally varying depending on most optimimum cost of manufacture at the present date.

This format, officially known as PC Card-ATA, is ideal for high speed data storage because it works like a hard disk, writing data at 16.6MB/sec. It is also compatible with many hard disk data compression tools allowing it to hold a higher capacity than its rated size. Because most laptop PCs have two Type II slots, you could still have your cell modem, GPS, or other expansion card in the second slot with one of these in the other.

Because this format is also an industry standard, managed by The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) it provides wide-compatibility with any PCMCIA compliant device.

The format is found most often with high-end digital cameras like Nikon/Kodak models, among others. Cost per MB is an amazing 14-cents for the 2GB format (Toshiba).

SD Memory Card

The SD (Secure Digital) Memory card is a brand new (July 2001) multi-purpose card which is compatible with the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), and is the size of a postage stamp. Its potential uses include "personal identity data," so it may appear in secure digital telephones to protect phonebook data while allowing transfer to/from compatible PDA devices. Cameras like the Panasonc PV-DC3000 already use this format.

Jointly developed by Toshiba Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., and SanDisk Corp., SDM is a safe storage medium suitable for commercial content that requires robust copyright protection. The format is backward-compatible with MultiMedia Card (see above) compatible devices, and is managed by the SD Card Association (sdcard.org).

Both 32MB and 64MB capacity cards have been announced, with pricing roughly $1.87 per MB (64MB capacity).

SmartMedia

SmartMedia is often mis-used to refer to any miniature storage format in a digital camera (try going down to your local electronics store and talking to a salesperson... this is the term you'll hear most often). In fact, SmartMedia -- or Solid State Floppy Disk Cards (SSFDC) -- also use flash memory like CompactFlash, but unlike CF cards, they require the controller functions for compatibility and other tasks to reside in the camera, rather than on the storage media.

While this keeps the cost of SmartMedia low, it cannot assure the forward and backward compatibility features that CF and Memory Stick can. SmartMedia comes in 8MB to 128MB capacities, and uses a single flash-chip.

SmartMedia is most often found on new cameras only in consumer-level products. The mid- and high-range products now tend to come with CF or PCcard solutions.

SmartMedia cards are also fragile because their gold contacts are exposed when outside of a storage device, and thus are not suitable for portable music and multi-purpose devices. Adapters are available for PCMCIA, allowing easy transfer of camera data to a notebook expansion slot.

Average cost per MB for SmartMedia is roughly $1.15 (128MB format).

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