Smart Media being phased out?

I would say that Smartmedia cards aren't the "hot" thing right now, but like you said, keyboards and thousands of cameras still use them. So, I don't think you'll have any problem finding some for at least the next 2 years.
BTW, my Motif also use SM cards, and I'm not really worried as of now...

I know that Akai has it on the new MPC 1000, but like PD said, lots of manufacturers are still using them. I'm not worried as of yet either, but it's something to take note of.

Chris,

You have mentioned a card that I use.
It's a good tool, but a bit unaccessible due to its high price.

I have 2 smart medias of 128 mb. I also have peaked up one of 64 for some possible sircunstances, such as system updates, for example.



Paz - Edu Camargo.

dont forget, the person that is working reatail, is most likely not also working for a company that makes the products hes selling, hes only giving you an opinion based on odd hearsay, the demand for SM cards is already there, and i dont expect them to just phase them out like that, now, i would assume since you can get a CF card to have 512M, where the SM card is limited to 128, and as far as i 'amembah, the SM card is much slower (reason we wait so long for our samples to load i would also guess)
there was a name for that type of 'thinking he knows everything' salesperson, but i forget it....something like a def of a radioshack employee...

i was manager of a digital department at a wherehouse music, so im not slamming retail, i used to tell coustomers im not sure, and would put a disclaimer next to my comments like that guy made

I probably should have waited till I cooled down a bit before making my first post. Of course I still love & speak highly of the Fantom itself

Hopefully he was wrong as you said, we chatted for a minute about what his camera takes vs mine. etc. He sounded fairly versed on the subject.

I'm an inside salesman, we sell fasteners ( nuts & bolts) before you laugh at nuts & bolts - thier kinda like the funeral business- nobody knows much about them or thinks about them untill they need them. FACT: It's a multi-million dollar business.

My point .... I'm in Ohio. I talk to California & New York on a daily basis - if something is going on in my industry I know it long before any of you do. I'm "on the inside" so to speak. All theses keyboard manufacturers HAD to know smart media was on it's way out - but they were probly 1/2 way thru the design phase and didnt want to change it. See?

Chris

I think there's a difference between being phased out in the way you describe and no longer being available, and being superceeded by something that is better.
There is also a matter of how long that takes.

Take for example the floppy disk. That was superceeded years ago, but is only now finally being dropped from new PCs. Even then, they are still being made and sold by the million.

There's no doubt that Smartmedia has reached the end of its road. That was evident some time ago when they realised they couldn't up the capacity any more. But SM is cheap and widespread. There will be supplies around for years yet.

I would normally easily agree Lawrence and hope you are right. I'm sure your at least partially right.

It just seems we've reached an all time high in the life span of current technology. Like buying a car & finding out they arent going to produce the gas it takes a month later. Consumers are going to tire of it. It's called "Planned Obsoletion"

There were never several sizes & styles of floppy discs (well two). The manufacturers have all been trying to force their own unique card on to the market, they cant agree or dont want a standard.

Well enough already I'm over it - thanks for your comments

Chris

Of course the SM Workstation community is a bit small

_:°:`I´:°:_

Chris, being that you are in inside sales, I am surprised at your take on "Planned Obsolescence".

There are so many factors that go into product development and evolution. The underlying energy of it all is that vague thing we call "market forces". Market forces evolve in any given time frame, with innumberable factors coming into play during any evolutionary cycle.

Decisions are made at many levels, but most have at least a partial, if not majority, basis in cost. This is especially true for manufacturing. Product development cycles are long, even in this age of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma processes.

It can be argued that many factors, some even conspiritorial, go into that decision pipeline, but no matter how nefarious the motives of a manufacturer or retailer, the ultimate decision will be made by the market at large, whether it be aspirin or workstations.

Who would have guessed that Baby Aspirin would be a growth market in the 21st century. As we progressed through the 70's and 80's, Acetiminophen and Iboprofen became the analgesics of choice. But now, millions of age 50 and over men an women pop a baby aspirin everyday for prophylactic coronary care.

It could have been something as simple (or short-sighted, depending on your point of view) as a great price on hardware and interface IC's that put that card into the Fantom. It could have been that Motif's (an obvious competitive target) and other hardware had them. We will ultimately never know.

It is also not surprising that mutiple competing formats have emerged on the market. A continuing developmental fundamental that will likely not change. Gas/Diesel? VHS/Beta? Mono/Stero/Quad/5.1? It's not that companies cant's agree or don't want a standard. That is not the primary force that drives this phenomenom. What they want (in their perfect dream scenarios) is market domination. What really happens is that, rather privately or publicly held, they must make a profit, and if a profit can be gleaned from a developmental decision, then they will wring it for all that it is worth.

My own music for profit activities has parallels. I make the bulk of my musical income from a live swing band and classical accompaniment, both relative market niches with not much impact in the recorded market. But some people want it, they are relatively well funded, and I know how to market and network my talents for those items.

But one inexorable fact will remain, so long the theories and practices of Adam Smith guide our economy. If people are buying SM cards, someone will make them or find a way to procure and sell the ones already in the market pool.

You sound extremely well educated in marketing Musician.

I was going for a degree in Industrial Design, classes which included product design/development, package design, and also marketing. I however never graduated or obtained my degree.

We the product designers were always embracing what was to come ( designing products that technology could not yet do - but would be able to do in the very near future )
Simply put : Pumped up about our work, and having the pride to want it to be the best & cutting edge, not to be outdone by competition..

Your comments remind me that despite what could have been on the drawing board - the corporate higher up's and many other departments in the descision making process could have squashed certain elements of the project before it came to fruition. "Nope, we can get a steal on these items so thats whats going into the unit for final production" sorry guys, no disc drive.

I only have one question left in this thread:
Whats with that "1" extra milligram in the asprin tablets anyways? Do they HAVE to be "81" milligrams?

Chris
PS: Dose Fantom-X take smart media? He He

Actually, I'm a high school graduate with a 20 year enlisted career as a Navy Musician. I am, however, boringly curious about the world, plus I somehow managed to become a technical recruiter after I retired, so I have learned a lot about marketing in general in the government contracting business where I live in the Washington, DC metro area.

As far as your aspirin question.......The older unit of apothecary measure in Great Britain and Central Europe was the "grain". It was also used in the United States for several hundred years before the metric system became the apothecary standard. So, when Bayer originally patented Aspirin, they were made in 5 grain tablets, with 2 of those being a standard adult dose. Since most pharmaceuticals are prescribed by weight, the need for a childrens dose was solved by a 1 grain tablet. That conversion of 1 grain is where the 81 mg figure comes from. Old customs, new measures.

Last the RolandUS website details that the X will take CF or SM via a PCMCIA card. Those specs can be detailed at:

http://www.rolandus.com/Multimedia/Flash/fantomx/WNAMM_04_NPC.pdf

Holy crap you do know alot!

I also am as you said "boringly curious" about everyday things. My downfall however is that I dont seem to retain much!

Chris