After seven long years, Olympus and Fujifilm have decided to begin phasing out their xD flash memory cards, perhaps in response to a mountain of customer complaints and competitor SD cards' lower prices and higher quality. To give an idea of how far this has gone, xD card readers are now sold with SD adapters, which is the closest thing to defeat the manufacturers will likely ever admit.
Irritated customers all over the country will say this has been a long time coming. The xD memory cards have caused a lot of people a lot of grief. Let's take a look at some of the most reported issues that consumers have had with their xD memory cards.
Losing Data To Corrupted Files
The main problem reported is that its digital cameras have ended up with corrupted data files. Losing irreplaceable memories this way is simply unacceptable. What's worse is that there's no one thing that you can do to prevent data corruption. Anything from pushing extra buttons while processing photos to turning off the camera while taking a picture to using low batteries can cause trouble.
Brief Lifespan Hurts Reliability
A new technology called "wear leveling" helps extend the lives of memory cards by keeping track of the number of stored memory blocks. Most modern memory cards make use of this technology, and particularly as they get smaller and smaller wear leveling will become even more important.
The manufacturers refuse to address this issue, choosing instead to continue releasing xD memory cards that do not utilize wear leveling technology. As a result, xD memory cards wear out before their SD equivalents.
Limited Memory And Speed
The xD memory card originally held 512 MB of storage space, which was maybe decent back in 2002 when it was first released. Today, Olympus and Fujifilm have expanded their card space to 2 GB, which might be better than before, but it certainly doesn't live up to the SD 32 GB cards available these days. To put this in perspective, most MP3 players offer more than 2 GB of space. To add insult to injury, xD memory cards are also much slower in data transfer than the competition.
Bad Quality, But High Prices
The most surprising of the differences between the xD and the SD is the price. Considering the trouble that comes with the xD, and its lack of power, you'd think it would be the less expensive choice. Reality is quite different: a 2 GB xD card retails for almost $20, while a comparable SD card is half that price, and several larger cards are still cheaper than the xD's hefty price.
Conclusion: xD Memory Cards On Their Way Out
When it comes to a product battle, most consumers will side with whichever company delivers a product for cheaper. This doesn't necessarily guide them in the right direction, but in this case it does. The xD memory cards are simply too expensive considering what little functionality they provide, and since Fujifilm and Olympus refuse to update their products, what can customers do but buy new products from a different company? - 32363
Irritated customers all over the country will say this has been a long time coming. The xD memory cards have caused a lot of people a lot of grief. Let's take a look at some of the most reported issues that consumers have had with their xD memory cards.
Losing Data To Corrupted Files
The main problem reported is that its digital cameras have ended up with corrupted data files. Losing irreplaceable memories this way is simply unacceptable. What's worse is that there's no one thing that you can do to prevent data corruption. Anything from pushing extra buttons while processing photos to turning off the camera while taking a picture to using low batteries can cause trouble.
Brief Lifespan Hurts Reliability
A new technology called "wear leveling" helps extend the lives of memory cards by keeping track of the number of stored memory blocks. Most modern memory cards make use of this technology, and particularly as they get smaller and smaller wear leveling will become even more important.
The manufacturers refuse to address this issue, choosing instead to continue releasing xD memory cards that do not utilize wear leveling technology. As a result, xD memory cards wear out before their SD equivalents.
Limited Memory And Speed
The xD memory card originally held 512 MB of storage space, which was maybe decent back in 2002 when it was first released. Today, Olympus and Fujifilm have expanded their card space to 2 GB, which might be better than before, but it certainly doesn't live up to the SD 32 GB cards available these days. To put this in perspective, most MP3 players offer more than 2 GB of space. To add insult to injury, xD memory cards are also much slower in data transfer than the competition.
Bad Quality, But High Prices
The most surprising of the differences between the xD and the SD is the price. Considering the trouble that comes with the xD, and its lack of power, you'd think it would be the less expensive choice. Reality is quite different: a 2 GB xD card retails for almost $20, while a comparable SD card is half that price, and several larger cards are still cheaper than the xD's hefty price.
Conclusion: xD Memory Cards On Their Way Out
When it comes to a product battle, most consumers will side with whichever company delivers a product for cheaper. This doesn't necessarily guide them in the right direction, but in this case it does. The xD memory cards are simply too expensive considering what little functionality they provide, and since Fujifilm and Olympus refuse to update their products, what can customers do but buy new products from a different company? - 32363
About the Author:
Memory cards for digital cameras are available anywhere, but you're not going to find better prices than at the merchant you always buy from! Buy digital camera memory cards today at genuine memory card dealers and experience the numerous high definition memories you can keep like new.
