

Flash memory will eventually become cheap enough to become a viablereplacement for CDs, DVDs and possibly Blu-ray discs, assuming people still want to buy music and movies on physical objects in coming years.

SanDisk is betting they will. The company plans to announce Wednesday the first installment of its plan to deliver music on microSD cards.

So far there's only one offering: SansaSessions, a DRM-free promotional MP3 compilation on a 512-MB card. Assembled with the help of Nonstop Riot, the compilation includes 50 songs by bands like All Time Low,

Architecture in Helsinki, Magnet, Ladytron, Loquat, Nada Surf, OfMontreal and TheCoup.

Aside from being a nice freebie for early U.S. purchasers of the 8-GB Fuze MP3 player (which has a microSD slot), the comp is also meant to demonstrate to the rest of the industry the use of tiny physical media as a distribution platform.

However, Sandisk's plan comes at a time when physical music formats are on the decline.

"It's a pretty tough business proposition right now," said JupiterResearch associate Michael Greene. "We have seen

sales of physical formats decline sharply in recent years, we're not expecting that trend to change any time soon."

In addition, those who prefer physical formats may not see theallure of microSD. "The attachment is to the format, the artwork andextras that come with having a CD," Greene added. "It's hard for me tosee someone having an emotional attachment to a little microSD card."

The analyst also pointed out that while SanDisk's Sansa Fuze and certain cellphones have microSD slots, the format hardly has

the install base of the CD. The cards could be stacked, so to say, against a form of physical media that's not

universally compatible.

There's another cause for skepticism. Seven years ago, a DataPlay

executive told me that Tower Records would soon be stockingshelves with music stored on his company's physical media format. TheDataPlay cartidges never showed up, despite the prototypes, and Tower Records closed its U.S. stores.

But unlike DataPlay, microSD already has an install base. SanDisk representatives indicated that this announcement is just the tip of the iceberg. The companyalready makes a 12-GB microSDHC card that can hold two DVD-quality movieswith room left over. With flash prices expected to continueplummeting, the future could be surprisingly rosy for this physicalformat, even as the focus elsewhere turns to digital distribution.

Dan Schreiber, senior vice president of SanDisk's A/V division, described microSD as a possible format for music distribution:

"Artists want to give their fans an easy andlegal way to experience and share their music, while labels are looking for aform of physical distribution with more usability than the CD. The SansaSessions promotion is a great opportunity to explore this new format and gives bothartists and labels a glimpse of the potential for music distribution in thismedium."

The Sansa Store

already sells music, movies and games on CD, DVD, SACD and otherformats, and a microSD card section would be a natural fit there. Partnerships with Hollywood and the music industry couldfollow. The new compilation consists of DRM-freeMP3 files, but a source inside the company says SanDisk is working onways to secure content onto cards, which could help build those relationships.

In the long term, the company's strong alliance with Best Buy could also come into play (SanDisk's Sansa MP3 players sell briskly at the chain). Best Buy also likesto sell CDs and DVDs because they bring in repeat customers who buy other products. The same rules could apply to new forms of physically distributed media.

Retailers and the entertainmentindustry could see SanDisk's prefilled microSD cards as somethingof a savior. And, under the right circumstances, users could find reasons to appreciate them too: ease of use, ability to resell media and sneakernet trading, for starters.

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