A Prime Example of Why the Computer Industry Fails in Consumer Electronics
The 21 in 1 card reader covered over at i4u shows what’s seriously wrong with the PC industry today. Here’s a list of the cards it supports as written by i4u.
MS Slot: Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Duo Pro Duo, MS Rom
CF Slot: CompactFlash Type I, CompactFlash Type II, Micro Drive
SD Slot: Secure Digital, Mini Secure Digital*, Multi Media Card, RS-MMC*
SM Slot: Smart Media, XD, SMC
Choices and competition are great, but 21 possible memory card variations is the furthest thing from making something consumer friendly. With all the talk of the computer industry trying, and badly, to enter the consumer electronics market, the fact that a device like this exists shows why such efforts have been met with failure. This is just pure confusion. It’s no wonder the ipod is a sealed device. It takes complication of this sort completely out of the picture.
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Ummmm no. All of the cards in the list came from the consumer electronics industry. Sony Consumer Electronics alone brought us the wonder that is Memory Stick. This device is an attempt by the computer industry to accomodate the consumer electronics industry.
These memory cards are used successfully by the computer industry, not the consumer electronics industry. I see relatively few consumer electronics devices such as stereos and televisions making use of the memory stick as opposed to their use in laptops, PDAs, (failed) MP3 players and PC-dependent digital cameras.
Sony makes for a curious example as they have so many divisions that sometimes collaborate and sometimes undercut each other, but the memory stick came out of what Sony referred to as their “VAIO Center”. It was an offspring of their VAIO computing business as can be seen on this press release from 1998 as it was originally released as a memory card a PC card so you could use it with your computer.
It’s clear that Sony’s long term plans were to make this a bridge product between their consumer electronics business and their computing business, but it falls right into the point above that this idea that came from their computing side simply didn’t work in consumer electronics. How many people buying Sony televisions or music systems, their traditional consumer electronics market, are concerned with whether these devices are memory stick capable, as opposed to those who purchase sony laptops and pc-dependant cameras? I’m willing to bet that those memory card slots that Sony has included since 1998 on various consumer electronics devices like video cameras and televisions go largely ignored by the customers who buy them.
As for the non-Sony formats, I generally only see them used in devices that are dependant on a PCs abilities.