Memory Cards

What is a Memory Card?

            A memory card is a solid state data storage device used by digital music players, digital cameras, mobile phones, portable computers, video game consoles, and other electronics to store data for later recovery without the need to maintain power to the memory card continuously.  Earlier RAM memory devices would lose their data contents when powered down.  Permanent memory has previously taken only the form of read only memory (ROM).  This evolved to erasable read only program memory (EPROM) which was used for data necessary ONLY when a device powered up.

            The memory card was developed due to a strong demand for high capacity re-recordable memory that could operate in a power-free state and was rugged enough for direct transport between devices by users.  Gamers or techies often call these “mem-cards”. There are almost as many kinds of memory cards as there are technology giants having a need for non-volatile re-useable memory.

What are the Major Types of Memory Cards?

            Starting about 1990, memory cards came on the scene.  In the beginning most were large in size compared to current types, plus many proprietary standards existed.  The most common type pf proprietary cards were for video game controllers. The Microsoft Xbox series (including the Xbox 360), the Nintendo video game line (Nintendo 64, GameCube and Nintendo Wii), Sega video games (Dreamcast and Saturn) and Sony devices (PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3) video games used proprietary memory cards.  Most of the designs were unique to the particular manufacturer, but a few were modified versions of standard cards used by other manufacturers.  The Nintendo GameCube was a modified SD memory card and the PlayStation Portable uses Memory Stick Pro Duo cards.

            Memory Cards with more universal uses include CompactFlash I, CompactFlash II, SmartMedia, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo, Memory Stick PRO=HG Duo, Memory Stick Micro M2, Multimedia Card, Reduced Size Multimedia Card, MMCmicro Card, Secure Digital Card, Universal Flash Memory, miniSD Card, microSD Card, xD-Picture Card memory, Intelligent Stick, Serial Flash Module memory, μ (Mu) Card memory and NT Card memory.  Laptops sometimes use special memory cards in their PCMCIA slots.  These include ATA type I Flash Memory Cards, Linear Flash SRAM cards, and PCMCIA Type II and PCMCIA III cards (which populate more than a single PCMCIA slot on a laptop computer.

            Often manufacturers, groups of employers, or industry associations will establish a standard which must be met by all memory in a specifically named memory card class. CompactFlash cards I, II, and III use corresponding standards called CF, CF2.0 and CF3.0.  Cards that have the added definition as SIM memory cards must contain what is called a Subscriber Identity Module which allows the device using the memory to know its charactistics that memory cards, following a particular standard, can often be differentiated from each other by specific names, such as Secure Digital, Secure Digital High Speed, or Secure Digital Plus (with an USB port).

Low Price Memory Product Availability

            Low Price Memory (www.lowpricememory.co.uk) stocks many memory cards products, along with such products as SanDisk memory products, Sony Ericsson memory, Memory Stick Pro Duo products, SD Memory, SDHC Memory Cards, Compact Flash memory, Micro-SD memory, XD-Picture Cards, USB Memory, USB Pen Drives, Memory Card Readers, Camera Cases for digital cameras, Bluetooth Headsets, PC Memory in a number of formats, Laptop Memory for most portable computers, Sennheiser Headphones, and Camera Batteries.