CD & DVD: RIP?

Remember the floppy disk? That seems like ages ago, but in reality 3 ½ floppy disks were standard issue storage until the late 1990’s. This begs the next question, what technology will replace the CD and DVD for storing digital photos? The answer might be a technology and product line announced by Sandisk just before PMA this year.

Greg Rhine, head of Sandisk’s consumer business said that they will create a new product category in the middle of the year: a read-only memory card that will be designed as a cheap archival product. Rhine did not say what technology the cards would use; flash inherently is both a read and write technology. Company executives said that the card, which uses "3D memory," is currently being tested in a pilot program with a single retailer. The cards, once full, would not be editable, nor would the data be able to be deleted. The card would store data for 100 years. Rhine called the card "the new digital film". For those who want to get the full geek speak of how the technology works, visit http://www.dpreview.com/articles/pma2002/page5.asp#matrixmemory.

Write once flash memory designed to store photos and take the computer out of the equation for the consumer. Larger retailers like Walgreen’s and Wal-Mart like the idea of the technology to help compete against home printing. The new cards would be used just like film; shoot it once, develop it and store it. It is permanently stored on the card and the card cannot be rewritten.

Although this technology is targeted to consumer’s it does have interesting implications to the professional photographer. This write once flash technology could be used to provide the consumer with an inexpensive archive of their digital photos following an event, wedding or portrait session. Since the card could not be written to again, the format is expected to be cheap and compete with the cost and storage capacity of a DVD. Digital rights management and professional photo registration services could be added to the write once flash memory and given to the consumer for portable storage and future use.

Keep your eye on this technology and for announcements from Sandisk later this year. You may be the very first one on your block to replace CD and DVD’s with write once flash memory cards. Then you can put your unused DVD’s on the shelf next to your magnetic tape drives, 5 ¼ floppies, Zip drives and 3 ½ floppies.