A couple of things have got me wondering as to how long we are going to be able to buy SmartMedia cards for our keyboards, cameras, etc. Our local Sam’s Club no longer stocks them and when I asked a clerk she said they would not be getting anymore. Then, today I noticed the latest issue of TigerDirect’s catalog lists a lot of digital media but only two SmartMedia cards. But what really caught my eye was the statement in their ad (printed in red), “Last Chance To Get SmartMedia.” Could a phasing out be happening?
Thanks,
Deaton

Very interesting Deaton!

That is a brilliant observation and one that may well indeed be true and forthcoming. And sooner than we may realize too.

Smart Media is limited to 128 Mb's in capacity which is meagerly compared to other Formats like SD (Secure Digital) and Compact Flash cards.

Unless the Smart Media specification is somehow expanded to enable greater capacities, I think it will go the same route as the Floppy Disk but in a much shorter time frame. The Floppy Disk is obsolete technology that is of limited value in today's high tech world. Apple no longer sells Floppy Disk Drives in their computers. Many PC's no longer come with a Floppy Disk drive. Although the media is still available, the concept is totally out of date and becoming useless (beneficial) as a viable storage means.

I think the same thing is happening to Smart Media only at an accelerated pace.

I hope Yamaha is taking note of this phenomenon and acting accordingly.

PS: Don't come crying to me Yammie when the bottom falls out of Smart Media technology and you're left holding the bag. I have already voiced my thoughts about what I think of Smart Media and its limiting storage specification and its usefulness as a viable storage medium. And I have warned you of its continuing use in your Keyboard products. PS: The excuse of using it to make it backward compatible with other existing products doesn't cut the mustard anymore.

There, I've warned you again. I hope you guys finally listen...

Best regards,
Mike

The writing was on the wall for a while now.
Good riddence.

I hear that radio stations may not be using 8 track tapes any more either !

What's happening to the world?

Basketball players are fighting like Hockey players!
US Presidents are watching the backs of their SS men!
Philadelphia Eagles are 9-1 !!!!

It's mad I tell you, MAD< MAD< MAD !!!!!!!

just to add another phase-out:
Dixon's are selling off all their existing stock of VCR's and now stocking only DVD stuff.
Any more anyone's observed?
cheers


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Eddie from Rotherham
www.yamahakeyboards.info

Hey UD

Caught a little of one of your US Basketball games on the TV the other night.

Didn't realise that it was a spectator sport. You have to be fit to go to those games!!!

Don't remember the team names but most of the action was in trhe crowd anyway.

KF

Hey you have to be tough to even watch basketball in Michigan.

U.D. some things remain a constant in this crazy world to help us keep what little sanity we have left. In Michigan that constant is the Lions still suck.

Tom

There are YOUNG people I work with that think turntables are great!!! Doh! They love the clicks, pops, scratches, really retro???
Turntables?? My technics turntable is in a box in the basement. Where would you buy needles for them? I listen to CD's.
Starkeeper

CD's? whats that? !!

I was told by three retailers that smart media was being phased out because the format was too small for today's high-resolution digital camers, which is the primary purpose for which they were designed. One of the other problems, which has been pointed out on the forum, is they do tend to crash, similar in some ways to a hard disk drive. With this in mind, those of you who are now using them in your keyboards may wish to purchase a few to have them on hand as back-ups. Nothing is forever--including us!

Gary

So the next wave of keyboards will have in your opinions WHAT? type of media storage?
lets discuss....

Maybe an internal bluetooth enabled USB storage device for faster connectivity.
From Jessie

Defintly High Speed transfer coupled with mega storage is the future with all digital devices.
Alsi IMO they hould invent a "STANDARD" media storage ........eg: like GM for music.

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 11-23-2004).]

Presumably that's why Technics (remember them) put SD into their later keyboards. They obviously knew something that escaped Yamaha.
Or could it be that Smart Media was cheaper to install????
Trevor

Smart Media card is physically too small. Unlike CF card, it is very difficult to design a large capacity card. Just like SD card. Whenever I buy digital camera, I choose those that support CF card.

Smart media cards are on their way out for sure. That's whey I was surprised to see Yamaha use the SM card for storage, and other synth makes do the same. In my area all the retail stores, and even camera stores will not carry SM cards less than 128mbs. I tried to buy one locally for my Casio WK-3500, and didn't want a 128mb card. All the stores (including Wal-Mart) told me they are basically being phased out. I ended up buying my SM card online for $15.00

Squeak

Real world experience tells me that a Smart media card will hold more than enough data for any purpose I have concerning the psr3000, so for ME .... it will never be obsolete. I have lots of room on the 128MB card that has yet to be tapped itno. When I need more storage - the laptop is right above and a usb cable is all it takes for them to "play nice".

I love innovation, but I won't upgrade just for the sake of the neighbors.
I have a system that work slike a charm right now .........so I'm sticking with it till a real world improvement comes along.

The most popular flashcards are Compact Flash and SD-cards and we already knew that the SmartMedia was gonna lose it.
Why Yamaha uses SM-cards I don't know, but I am sure that SM-cards will stay with us for a couple of years more.
Everything has to go eventually - the DVD-recorders have only recently been launched, but we already know what will follow them up: the Blue Ray Disc. http://www.blu-ray.com/info/
And who knows.. before the blue ray discs can conquer the market maybe someone will come with something completely different already. It's a crazy world.

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drdalet

"Basketball players are fighting like Hockey players!"

What's even worse the fans were wasting good beer. You know those beers are probably $6 a cup at the games.

Jerry

The guy gets a papercup full of beer on him and becomes a raging madman...

But if he wins a championship, he's smiling with eye-burning champagne.

I guess he's not a beer drinker.

The reason Smartmedia was used could well have been cost. Smartmedia was specifically designed to replace floppy drives with minimal rework (it's file structure closely matches that of floppy discs). But this also means thats its capacity is inherantly limited.

It'll do me in my 3mp camera; I get 80 pictures per 64meg. I'd be a bit scared about using a mega capacity card as this might make me lazy in backing up the pictures and then the consequences of media failure are that much greater.

Compact flash seems to be the most stable, and are available in large compacity[512 and larger]..Roland uses this with the VR760, and I think this will work with the G70[pcmcia slot with card reader]..
I had smart media failures with the DisCover5..maybe they are not all that dependable..

I won't miss smart media at all!!! I inserted 1 card into my PSR3000 and use it like an internal hard drive. I've never removed it. It seems to fragile to keep inserting and removing to exchange data with my computer. I do use and LOVE my 128 meg USB pen drive and use that to swap files. They are much more durable and the prices have really dropped during this year!!!