[This article updated on September 22, 2008] SanDisk has today announced SlotMusic – their DRM-free MicroSD card pre-loaded with music. The SlotMusic announcement comes almost three years to the day that SanDisk announced the Gruvi MicroSD, which apparently went nowhere. Why they expect SlotMusic to go where Gruvi was apparently unable to is beyond us. Maybe you readers have some idea?
Back on 9/28/05, we penned:
The Gruvi MicroSD is a new SD (secure digital) media card aimed squarely at the music market; in fact, aiming squarely to replace the CD format. The Gruvi cards, which are copy protected by SanDisk’s proprietary “TrustedFlash”, will fit and play in cell phones, mobile devices, and laptops, and come with up to 2GB of memory.
And, says Gruvi MicroSD manufacturer SanDisk, no less than the Rolling Stones have already signed on to produce the first Gruvi MicroSD “album”, producing their “A Bigger Band” album in the new format.
According to SanDisk CEO Eli Harari, “TrustedFlash cards will unlock a world of premium content to consumers using mobile phones, music players, game players and video players.”
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Said industry analyst Richard Doherty of the Rolling Stones announcement, “We see this announcement as only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the number of studios and labels who say, ‘Oh, I can work with this'”.
The Rolling Stones “A Bigger Band” on Gruvi MicroSD is due out in November and is expected to retail for $39.95.
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hahahaha you have got to be kidding me. you think people steal music now because they won’t pay 20 bucks? you just wait till every album is 40 bucks and still contains only 40 minutes of music. i can’t wait till all these buyers start complaining when their SD goes corrupt a year later or they leave it next to a magnet and zzzzzzzeeerrrrpptttt ERASED.
I think folks are missing the point. Not only do you get a decent amount of music and a reusable card, you get other content. I do agree that $40 bucks is shooting themselves in the foot though!
Hey, these things sell at Best Buy for $30. A regular 256Meg Transflash card sells for $45. This is a STEAL even if you just erase the content! The hell with the music!
40 Bucks for the new Rolling Stones album?!?!?!?!? I wouldn’t pay 40 bucks for one of the good Rolling Stones albums much less a new one! Come to think of it, I wouldn’t pay 40 bucks for ANY album.
$39.95 – who wouldn’t be excited to make that sale…Just another way the Stones are trying to stick it to there fans. Thought they stopped doing drugs? If they are not on drugs they must think we are. They will only sell to the wanna be a computer geeks. The real computer junkies know this is just a kick in the pants rip off.
Gee they are complaning about slow music sales, think that we are going to rush out to buy an over priced album at 39.95 when it is $10 to 20 canadian dollars at FutureShop??? It seem that they will never learn!