slotMusic--the digital music format of the future?

Damian Koh | Sep 22, 2008

If SanDisk and the various music labels (Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI Music) have their way, we could see songs preloaded onto 1GB microSD cards dubbed slotMusic, instead of CDs in the near future.

The new initiative announced today is aimed at users of multimedia phones and portable media players that support the flash memory format. According to the release, the tunes will come in 320kbps MP3 format, are DRM-free and the flash media will have USB adapters for use with Windows, Linux and Mac computers.

Just how this is going to take off is still a big question weighing on our minds. Why can't we have uncompressed formats? What happens if I accidentally delete some songs on the card? How do I tell which album belongs to which card? Is there really a need for 320kbps? What's the price going to be like? And everyone's moving toward online stores, why the need for this now?

Unless these questions can be answered, we're going to take a pinch a salt with this announcement. The flash media will first be available in the US, followed by Europe. No word on whether it will eventually make its way to Asia.

Via Engadget

Filed under: Future Tech, Music & Play
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ferdiei

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ferdiei says...
let me try to answer some of the concerns:

*Why can't we have uncompressed formats? >8GB is still tight to pack-in the micro-sd & uncompressed format would be too impractical to squeeze in as much as number of song file/s is concerned
*What happens if I accidentally delete some songs on the card? the same service as what online portals are implementing, the ability to download the same exact song file, or to register the said sd card upon purchase-for warranty & song folder back-up(online)
*How do I tell which album belongs to which card? thats easy, by creative labeling onto the cards itself & identifying the card thru various category i.e. genre, artists, composers, etc
*Is there really a need for 320kbps? they might have concluded after taking user experience/preference that mp3s encoded @128kbps for some is not good enough to produce an acceptable sonic experience (without external enhancement like Creative's Xfi) for a varied range of music i.e. rock vs classical vs electronic vs pop etc
*What's the price going to be like? of course this is the most critical question that those companies who's going to sell at this format, for consumers to accept/embrace the technology
*And everyone's moving toward online stores, why the need for this now? where do typical users store their downloaded files(?) but to external cards (right?) or into any external storage, but taking into account the gaining popularity os SSDs, the micr-sd id positioned to be the smallest, well implemented and convenient mode of medium for this purpose

hope that been able to clarify or give insight on some points..

Sep 22, 2008 21:46

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kalmo

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kalmo says...
ferdiei> mostly I agree with your answers but why should we go with MicroSD? because of Size? Without mobile phones, most mp3 player don't have MicroSD card slots even iPODs which have more than 60% of marketshare in the world. Even, you have a mobile phone with MicroSD card slot. Are you going to carrying around 3~10 MicroSD card to listen your music? What if you got a smartphone which installed various Apps via MicroSD card? I don't think there is a mobile phone came out with 2 MicroSD slots.

I think, this is just one of marketing strategy that SanDisk try to sell their MicroSD card more and more bu making it as standard music media platform like CD.

Sep 23, 2008 10:30

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ferdiei

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ferdiei says...
kalmo, there's nothing wrong with some of your points. but the fact is, the music industry is pushing the consumers into a 'paradigm shift' to (perhaps) change our perception about purchasing & carrying CDs or any current or future mobile digital media format. music may be a beginning though movies could be in the works too, lets see how this unfolds in the consumer domain. Sandisk is a big player in flash memory & has dictates in the market (plus its patents) which Samsung has dire intentions to acquire but to no avail..until recently

Sep 23, 2008 21:43

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FishSM

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FishSM says...
Great idea... Tons of space saved. 1 concern will be the format... Another will be, is it able to be RIP on to a computer like CDs? Or just Copy & paste? How bout lyrics booklet with pictures? Cant be buying the booklet with the mircoSD, will be looking kind of weird.

Although i will support it greatly for its advantages, the disadvantages will be it concerns. Lyrics booklet with pictures still around? If free gift attached like handphone strap still available? microSD too small to be designed on like on CDs

Oct 09, 2008 16:04

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