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

To: John Trader who wrote (19984)	4/6/2001 2:49:58 AM
From: Craig Freeman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 60323

John, I read the N.Y. Times article that you mentioned earlier today (your post #19984) and was amazed at how accurate it was. Unlike previous articles which confused KB and MB, the writers broke with tradition and got most of their facts right. Their concluding statements were profound: "For most consumers, he said, simply getting more digital storage is much like going from a few television channels to hundreds but still not being able to find anything interesting to watch. What the makers of removable storage devices really need to be able to do, he said, 'is to have something very small, with lots of memory, that is so cheap that you could almost throw it away.' That, even the most ardent believers in Moore's law agree, may take awhile." Having dealt with removable media for two decades and found that the only common denominator was incompatability over time, I agree with their findings. It may be nifty to have <$10, quarter-sized disks capable of holding 500MB ... but to what end? CD-ROMs at $.50 each can hold 700MB or ~100 CD-quality MP3s. And, a 128KB flash memory card will hold so many megapixel images that it takes more time to cull the good shots from the dudds than patience permits. I agree with Dr. Harrari that the world needs a single standard that will grow predictably to provide increasingly more capacious, more reliable storage at predictably decreasing costs per MB. IMHO, flash remains the only potential solution. Craig

To: John Trader who wrote (19984)	4/6/2001 11:00:28 PM
From: Ausdauer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 60323

John, nice find! Too bad that the NY Times... ...decided to post a picture of a Lexar Media product and not a SanDisk CompactFlash card instead!!! The article said... "All the flash stuff is all the same stuff, just repackaged," said Steve Volk, the founder and chief executive of DataPlay, who recently announced that he had struck deals with major record companies to also sell recorded music on the DataPlay disc. "None of the flash stuff is suitable for pre-recorded content." But critics of optical data storage media like DataPlay's and all recordable CD's and DVD's say that because such media must spin at high speeds, they are more prone to skipping and other mechanical problems. They also consume more power, which reduces battery life. Optical-based storage is also, some critics say, much more costly for device makers because they must build in the mechanical means to play and read the discs. (The same is true, Dr. Harari said, for any mechanical shortage device, like the I.B.M. Microdrive, which is a tiny hard drive.) Before a DataPlay disc can work, a device must be built with a DataPlay micro-optical engine, which is about the size of a matchbox. Such an engine, said Mr. Kasrel, of Forrester Research, adds to the cost, size and complexity of the device. Solid-state memory cards have no moving parts, and none are required to read them. ******************************************************** ****************************************************** Lexar Media** BTW, if the Lexar annual report lists continued royalties to SNDK as a risk going forward it must mean that the workaround hasn't been perfected yet or is shipping in low volume or that the excess inventory of infringing products they had last quarter is still on the shelves of retailers. I hate to say it, but Lexar Media could go down in flames if general market conditions remain soft. I trust SanDisk has the fortitude to weather the next few quarters. In the end there may be several fewer CompactFlash assemblers before this year is over and done with! Aus