Sony Enters SD Memory Card Market

Sony has announced that it will produce a line of SD memory cards.   They are making SD cards with capacities of 2GB to 32GB and micro SD cards from 2GB to 8GBs.  The new line of memory cards - except for the microSD 2GB card - are all class-4-speed for high-definition recording.

The gadget blogs where shocked by this announcement, as they thought it could mean the beginning of the end for the Memory Stick. However, Shane Higby, director of the consumer media business at Sony said that “the new cards will complement Sony’s existing Memory Stick® line, satisfying the needs of a broader range of users, and strengthening Sony’s position as a full line media supplier.” Sony still recommends Memory Stick media for Sony products, like the new alpha 450 they recently announced.

One thing I liked is that they indicated that the SD cards will be available " in packaging that is easy to separate and recycle." I was starting to think I was the only one that hated opening most electronic packaging so much!

Here is a full list of the cards, which will ship next month, with suggested retail prices.

SF-2N1                     2GB SD Class 4                                  $14.99
SF-4N4                     4GB SDHC Class 4                               $29.99
SF-8N4                     8GB SDHC Class 4                               $44.99
SF-16N4                   16GB SDHC Class 4                             $79.99
SF-32N4                   32GB SDHC Class 4                             $159.99
SR-2A1                     2GB microSD with adapter                   $14.99
SR-4A4                     4GB microSDHC Class 4 with adapter    $29.99
SR-8A4                     8GB micro SDHC Class 4 with adapter   $44.99