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

To: Steve 667 who wrote (14002)	8/17/2000 11:23:18 AM
From: Tumbleweed	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 60323

Financially they (MP3 players) don't make any sense at all. They are a neat gizmo for Sandisk shareholders who have lost all semblance of what sanity they once had. Believe it or not, until about a year ago most people on this thread hadn't heard of MP3, all the talk was digital cameras. Do they make financial sense? Who knows, who cares. MP3 players are fashion accessories and gizmos, and fashion accessories and gizmos dont need to make financial sense. PLus, may I respectfully suggest you are looking at them as if they were traditional CD players. They are not. The mode of operation is, before your short trip or your jog, spend a minute and download the music you want. Erase it and begin over next time. I ordered one of these other toys called the MPTrip Discman which plays 5 hours of MP3 files on one CD which will cost you a whole dollar for the disk. I posted a longer post on the subject a little more than a week ago. Here is the link to the Discman: zdtv.com I'm sure there is a market for this as well. There is one being advertised here in the UK that plays 10 hours on 1 disc. But its about $300 so I dont think its competing with an impulse buy $100 MP3 player. Yes, someone did put up another link to the digital wallet about 3 or 4 weeks ago. Do you have a price yet? It is an absolute must have for digital camera owners especially for trips. You know the ones to Europe for two weeks with that silly MP3 player that lets you listen to the same hour of music over and over and over and over.... (g) I think the digital wallet is a neat gadget, here's the issue. Do I spend $500 in one hit, or do I spend even more, but spread out without noticing it, on CF or MMC? Except for the photo nut who's going to take many hundreds of pictures and knows it, many people will, IMHO, rationalise that they would rather spend just $100 or $200 on the CF they will need for this trip than $500. And the more CF they accumulate the harder it is to buy a dw because they only need one more CF card. The more you have the less you need to buy a wallet. I agree it may make financial sense to buy a digital wallet but many decisions arent made in that rational way. You probably didnt buy a Cessna when you were 18 even though it might have been cheaper than all the airline flights you would take in your lifetime. Just watch all the flack I draw over this one! (g) They mean well, they just have no common sense So, you mentioned MP3 and Cameras and the fact that there is competition for flash in those areas. Well, if Sandisk was a market area where no one else wanted to compete, I wouldnt want the stock. OF course, you didnt mention Cellphones or PDAs, each in their own right huge markets to come. And I dont see rotating storage as an option in those at all, especially phones. So, what was your point? Tumbleweed

To: Steve 667 who wrote (14002)	8/17/2000 12:30:59 PM
From: Doren	Respond to of 60323

Financially they don't make any sense at all. They are a neat gizmo for Sandisk shareholders who have lost all semblance of what sanity they once had. I remember when CDs first came out when I worked at Tower. They didn't make sense financially either, and they don't even make sense now compared to vinyl. But they won. The cool thing about this technology is it is re-writeable, it resists shakes, and it's transferable to cameras etc, and not the least of all it's small. At this point I'm looking for one and I wouldn't even consider a CD player because of the bulk. I don't know if it will succeed but I'm guessing that when players get down around $100 - 150 a lot of people will start buying them, despite the cost of the flash disks. I just think convenience will win. The motto of the American People: "Give me convenience or give me Death!"

To: Steve 667 who wrote (14002)	8/17/2000 5:18:06 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 60323

Steve, You are right, those MP3 players will never sell. Compaq and Nike must be crazy. You and Anna have your finger on the pulse of the consumer, and I bet those guys didn't even do any market research. And the MP3 players in Best Buy are there to build inventory dollars, and make the portable CD players look inexpensive. I'm certainly glad you are here to set us all straight, we might have been duped into thinking MP3 players were a successful product category. Thanks, John