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Non-Tech : Iomega Thread without Iomega -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cogito who wrote (7720)	2/25/1999 12:19:00 AM
From: Mel Boreham	Respond to of 10072

Allen, I agree wholeheartedly! Look, if I were building the lowest common denominator "el cheapo" boxes I would certainly consider the least expensive removable, especially when Imation is just about giving them away to increase their presence in the marketplace. The fact that they also run floppies is a plus for newbies who think that they must be able to use their old floppies, after all they have a drawer full of em... But, I do not think that backward compatibility will continue to be of much importance in the future. Sony thought it was and I think that this overly complicated design will be their downfall as per the failure of their fantastic "Zip Killer" Hi-Fud drive. Kim Edwards knew they were going to have problems with a dual head system and he said that he would let them find out on their own! Good Ol' Kim did have a few good points... The future is Zip! Mel

To: Cogito who wrote (7720)	2/25/1999 2:23:00 AM
From: Rocky Reid	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10072

Sony Unveils Memory Stick Copyright Protection Details: nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com As you can see, Sony's copyright protection in their proprietary Memory Stick goes WAY beyond a simple serial number on a disk. It actually has an entire single chip inside the Memory Stick dedicated just to copyright -- that must match with the player device's chip codes. This would be a tought one to crack. This is an advantage Memory Stick has over CompactFlash, Smartmedia, or Iomega Flop!-- tight security that is record industry-profit-friendly. The article also describes a new data compression scheme for use on Audio files, called ATRAC3. I believe that Sony is going to beat the rest of the industry to the punch by allowing download of their own Sony Records songs (HUGE label- Titanic Soundtrack, Mariah Carey, etc.) via their new proprietary ATRAC3 data compression format-- for use with secure and reliable solid-state Memory Stick ONLY. Sony players and stereos may be the ONLY devices that can play ATRAC3 compressed files. So Sony would see ALL of the $$$ from the record sales, the "catcher's mitt" media (Memory Stick), and the audio players/stereos. Sony is slick, that's for sure. There are pictures of various portable devices at the above link that Memory Stick is designed for. Very slick indeed. **BTW, Sony, Panasonic, and others have already unveiled (at PMA) DV-digital Camcorders that also have a Memory Stick slot for either using it as a digital camera, or for capturing single frames of video straight off the DV tape.-very cool. Memory Stick may be much bigger than what we intially gave it credit for.

To: Cogito who wrote (7720)	2/25/1999 10:07:00 AM
From: Michael M	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 10072

Dominant OEM Presence? Zip in six of seven 500 Mhz P III boxes is indeed heartening. Then again, Zip owns the high-end power user market. Highly unlikely that manufacturers would clutter their high-margin flagships with 'free' SuperSlows. What's more important though, dominant presence in computer rags or on retail shelves? I was in a big busy Staples yesterday and I started counting..... Imation over Iomega by a 3-1 margin. OK, so they're probably making no money on the drives but, depending on the depth of Imation's commitment and pockets, IOM could be in for a very rude wake-up. One machine that really caught my eye.....nifty little Compaq 333Mhz with plenty of up-to-date bells and whistles (about three times the capability of my three-year-old $3K+ Dell).....SuperDisk built-in ......$599. Scary. Fully expect Q1 results to include some kind of mumble about a stumble in OEM sales. I see annual shareholder mtg is scheduled 21 April. Will be interesting to see how this timing coincides with earnings release date. Time to start thinking of some questions for Mr. Glore. Still long but IOM is testing my bullishness. Don't care much for the company operating in stealth mode.