SD will handle a plain SD card (I believe up to 2G but I have heard of some 4G SD cards. never actualy seen one and if they exist, they are either rare or bogus).

They’re definitely not bogus. When the original Motorola Q came out, it had a MiniSD slot that didn’t support SDHC. However, there were people who got 4 GB MiniSD cards that worked.

I believe the trick was that they didn’t quite conform to the older SD standard. They tweaked things a bit so that the storage could be used. It was definitely buyer beware with them, though. Wikipedia has a decent article about SD storage sizes.

Steve

Z

Although this is great news, I am concerned that my current phone may not recognize or be able to utilize 100% of such a large MicroSD card. The phone in question is a Samsung i760 purchased earlier this year. My understanding is that phone manufacturers did not anticipate such large capacity storage to become available during the life of the phone, and that the hardware required to maximize this storage was not included to reduce production costs. Any insights on this matter?

As far as I know, if they implemented SDHC, it should work with up to 32 GB cards. If they just implemented the old SD standard, you’ll probably be limited to 2 GB (and no SDHC cards will work).

Can you use SDHC cards now?

Steve

iPods still rule because it is not about the music anymore, but the “lifestyle”. Steve Jobs has proven he may be the greatest marketeer of his age (or the new PT Barnum) by convincing millions of people that carrying a certain brand of MP3 player (or phone for that matter) will make them cooler, more popular, and appear to “get it” regarding technology.

Sure a phone with a large enough SD card can play music just as well as most iPods…but you just won’t look as hip doing it. Lots of people will pay a premium price to looks “cool” painlessly. Think of iPods as the spray-on tan of the gadget world.

That said, I do own an iPod Touch and love it…but I use it as a games machine and an eBook, with a couple movies and some video of my son along for the ride. I only have one album on there. For music, I use my 80G Zune 2. I much prefer the software experience I get from Zune over iTunes, I like the feel and sound quality of the device…and I prefer the statement carrying a Zune makes.

MS Rebels RULE.

Z

Although I think Woz is right, it took years for transistor radios and later Walkmans to become a generic commodity.

Remember that the iPod is just one type of Digital Audio Player (DAP). Apple didn’t invent them (I think Diamond did) like Sony invented the Walkman.

Also, DAPs are commodities now. I recall seeing a gift card at Target, and the card doubled as a free MP3 player. You bought the card for say $25 and it was good for $25 in purchases, but the card was also a 64 MB (I think) DAP. That’s about as commodity as you get. :D

Granted, it’s not GB of space, but the music industry’s SlotMusic initiative is basically selling DRM-free, high-quality MP3s on a 1 GB MicroSD card for $7-$10, I think. So memory cards are also becoming commodities.

As anecdotal evidence, I just bought a 2 GB Kingston MicroSD card for $5.99 — and that was supposedly the shipping and handling charge; the card itself was “free”. Last night, I saw a Transcend 8 GB SDHC card being sold for $9.99 (plus whatever S&H was).

So, at the low end at least, I think DAPs and the necessary storage are commodity items.

Plus, I think 16 GB in a MicroSD card is as much or more than last generation’s iPod Nanos or Touches, right? It’s a lot more than the first generation iPod.

The only real obstacle, for that storage range, is iTunes and DRM. For people who need more than 16-32 GB, though, I think the higher end iPods and Zunes are safe — for a little while.

Steve

gotta give it to apple though. all they do is refresh the line every 6 months and add half of a new feature while making it look prettier and the world goes bananas. LOL. the ipod isn’t going anywhere unless someone else learns to do it better and brings along a killer app, or we run out of tech innovation. with that said…

i love my wm device and will be happy using that instead…. it’s just not as pretty.

For now, there’s a fanatically dedicated community which is vested in the whole iTunes vertical structure.

You’ll know the end is near for the iPod’s run when the successful lawsuits against Apple’s DRM are launched and decisions striking down Apple’s hegemony are struck down.

Currently, the vested iPod fans often have vastly more invested in the songs they bought through iTunes than the cost of the players themselves, and will continue buying iPods rather than throw that money down the drain or burn hundreds or thousands of songs to CD to transfer the songs to non-Apple players.

–
FB

Steve

I bought my daughter an LG Voyager based on her promise to try it as a music player to avoid having to buy her both a phone and an iPod Nano. Unfortunately, she didn’t even try it as far as I know and her mom bought her a Nano. :( (Maybe I should bill her the $300-400 I paid. That would teach her. :D)

Regarding accessories, there are plenty of accessories for Windows Mobile and Bluetooth devices, so unless there’s some very specialized accessory that you must have, I don’t think accessories will be the limiting factor.

More important, I think, will be Apple’s DRM. As long as the iPod is the only player that can play iTunes DRM music, the iPod is safe — at least until people realize they don’t need iTunes.

Steve

it’s very hard to topple the giant ipod… think about it.. what player is even close? I’ve recently battled my own techlust on whether or not to get a ipod touch after my psp dropped and lost sound (and wifi.. sigh). it still plays games.. just no sound… soooo.. ipod touch or replacement psp? or just trek it out with my wm devide and my stereo bt headphones? i picked up a bigger micro sd this weekend and i’m giving my tilt a try… it’s not so bad… except i can’t play my music in my car anymore until i pick up an adapter.. and the one i like is about $120…. that psp is looking good. LOL.