Submitted by: arnesr
Source: http://www.etown.com
DATAPLAY MP3 PLAYER IN A YEAR? New storage format gets support from Samsung, Toshiba, Diamond Multimedia - By Stewart Wolpin You could see a RioPort MP3 player that uses the new DataPlay micro-optical discs by this time next year. The new discs are one possible solution to a nagging problem that has plagued portable digital devices: the very high cost of the solid-state memory cards they use for storage. The DataPlay discs are both inexpensive (projected cost is less than $10 per disc) and dense (each disc holds about half a gigabyte.) S3, the corporate parent of Diamond Multimedia, makers of the Rio MP3 players, along with gear manufacturing giants Samsung and Toshiba, are some of the companies participating in a $50 million round of financing for DataPlay. Other significant companies involved in this third-round of financing are Seagram's, owner of the Universal Music Group, and disc-drive maker Imation. Lowering the boon on techies This news is a potential boon to budget-minded gear heads. DataPlay aims to be a universal storage media format for all portable digital gear such as digital cameras, MP3 players, PDAs, et al, that currently use expensive flash media. Currently, a 64MB compact flash or SmartMedia card runs more than $100.... DataPlay will play host in an 8000-square-foot DataPlay Pavilion at next year's Consumer Electronics Show in January 2001. The exhibit will feature prototypes of DataPlay-enabled devices, including MP3 players, digital cameras, ebook readers, PDAs, Web-enabled cell phones and portable videogame players from a variety of current and future DataPlay partners. In three weeks, the company will begin to ship developer kits to its licensing partners, according to Volk. |
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