"But DataPlay, a start-up company in Boulder, Colo., is entering a market crowded with inventors and businesses seeking to create the next major "form factor" -- the medium, like the floppy disk and DVD, that becomes used widely for data storage.
In the music and digital film industries, hardware manufacturers have gravitated to "flash" memory -- solid-state storage media enclosed in small, plastic cases. But flash memory has drawbacks: For one, it's expensive. Sixty-four million bytes can cost $200. "
nytimes.com
"STORAGE
Now, a Lot of Little Memories
Newsweek, April 10, 2000
As MP3s and digital photography become more popular, the need for portable data storage is growing. Today's options (CompactFlash, Sony Memory Stick) are relatively expensive, ranging from $50 (for 32MB) to $649 (for 160MB). A new company called DataPlay has developed a tiny 500MB disc that it says will sell for $5 to $10. Unlike other data storage, DataPlay is a write-once medium, not rewritable. That keeps the price down?and helps make it secure for record labels and publishers who may release their content on the Lilliputian discs.
N'Gai Croal and Rachel A. Cohen"
newsweek.com |
