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Technology Stocks : WDC/Sandisk Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Binx Bolling who wrote (6482)	7/23/1999 9:16:00 AM
From: Ausdauer	Respond to of 60323

Binx and Thread, Reiss writes, "Audible sells both the razor [the player]...and the blades [books on electrons]" What does that make Palm-Sized Window CE's? What does that make CompactFlash?....shaving cream? The Cassiopeia shipped with an Audible.com CD in it to download the player. It is like an mp3 player (the graphic interface or "skin" is like Hum's mp3 player) except it presumably only plays Audible.com audio files. The sound quality is excellent with the external speaker alone. There is also a stereo earphone jack which I have yet to try out. I plan to download audio files to my CF card with ImageMate. IMHO, paying good money for a device that only plays Audible.com files seems to be a waste. These devices don't even accept CF cards, so you have to continually erase and download via a serial connection. They would be better off selling a device devoid of on-board (embedded) memory with a CF card expansion slot and with mp3 capability for music. Why not just ask 3COM to make the device for them with a CF slot and full-featured PIM software? That would sell like hot cakes. You are right Binx, SanDisk is completely overlooked again. These things only seem to be obvious to those of us who have experienced removable flash memory first hand and recognize the utility and convenience. Ausdauer

To: Binx Bolling who wrote (6482)	7/24/1999 3:10:00 AM
From: Binx Bolling	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 60323

IS IBM OEMing these or do they manufacture their own? necxdirect.necx.com:80/hai/top_seller_page.html?key=0001450&nonce=guest ibm.com jp.ibm.com jp.ibm.com

To: Binx Bolling who wrote (6482)	7/24/1999 8:12:00 AM
From: SBHX	Respond to of 60323

Binx, The key Sandisk question is not format of compact digital storage. I think it's likely CF has won that war. I'm trying to figure out what exactly is the entry barrier for others into this lucrative market? Unless there was some patent(s) sandisk hold(s) that requires royalty payments, a CF cartridge technically can be done very easily. The flash memory chips can be bought from intel or other big suppliers, and the glue logic to support ATA is not that hard to do, in the worse case, it could be bought off-the shelf from the various ATA chip manufacturers. The plastic shell could cost <10c in big enough quantities. Add to that the CF-Microdrive by IBM, which (while mechanical) is capable of much more cost-effective $/MB while yielding much higher sizes (320MB and above). Mind you, I was watching SNDK on and off for about 2 months, but could not pull the trigger, and I feel like kicking myself now. :-)