Prices for flash memory cards continue to fall. Typical low prices for
Compactflash and SD cards in USA now are 1GB $15, 2GB $25, 4GB $45,
8GB $90.
With a little searching, sale prices as much as 50% lower than these
levels can be found most weeks.
With 1GB products at $15, there is no space for 256MB and 512MB models
any more. Last week, I saw two retailers offering 512MB products for
free after mail-in rebate. (512MB holds about 30 minutes of two
channel 24/48 recordings.)
The flash memory marketplace has two tiers. The top tier includes
products from Lexar, Sandisk and Kingston. These companies charge a
premium for their products. Sometimes the premium can be justified by
a lifetime warranty or faster read and write speeds.
The second tier includes less familiar companies. Look for products
from A-Data, PQI, PNY, Transcend, Ritek, Simpletech, and Crucial.
These products sell for 25% to 50% less than the top tier brands.
The second tier products sometimes have shorter warranties, or slower
performance. Since the slowest cards work fine for nature recording,
there's little reason to pay a premium for faster read and write
speed. Photographers, on the other hand, will find the faster cards to
be more convenient.
Low prices for memory products from the second tier companies are
really putting pressure on the first tier. Sandisk recently announced
layoffs and salary cuts, and pledged to lower its prices by 30% to
match the competition. So watch for the downward trend in prices to
continue.
I can't recommend online auction sites like eBay for flash memory
purchase. There are too many counterfeit products in circulation.
Buy from a local or online retailer, where you will be able to return
the memory card for a refund if there is any problem.
--oryoki
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