Has anyone seen the latest issue of USNEWS? On page 66 they have an article entitled "Closet space for the PC. Sparq 2 is cheaper and easier to use than Zip drives or CD-RWs. They compare the pros and cons of Zip, Sparq, Imation Superdisk, HP CD writer, Jaz and Sony's HiFD. Although HiFD is not available yet, the article goes on to praise Sony's offering: "Still it looks as though HiFD will be worth the wait. Although they are expensive by the penny, HiFD disks may be comparitively cheap by the pound, a potential 10 cents per meg (vs 17 cents for Zip and 9 cents for Jaz) versus 14 cens for the SuperDisk. Second, Sony invented the omnipresent 3.5 inch floppy, and with its considerable power in the industry, its a good bet taht the company can establish HiFD as the next floppy standard. THird, its performance claims look pretty impressive. USNEWS was the first magazine to see HiFD in action, and while the early units were sstill buggy, we watched short videos running off them and quality was acceptable. (When more-evolved drives arrive, we'll be able to see whether you an actually run games or toehr applications from HiFD.)
Does anyone care to comment? (other than Reid, of course.). BTW, I am long IOM and believe the company stands a good chance to be the floppy replacement because of quality and market penetration and user familiarity.
Dan Dwyer |
