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Although the xD Picture Cards are no longer supported by new devices made after 2010, many digital cameras and MP3 players that were released in the first decade of the 21st century used this flash memory format. Pioneered by Fujifilm and Olympus, these units were announced in 2001 and released in the summer of 2002. Olympus and Fujifilm had Toshiba and Samsung manufacture them, although the latter two corporations did not produce these cards under their own name. The brand is short for XtremeDigital; the idea behind xD cards was to push it mainstream for digital cameras, as well as some MP3 devices and sound recorders. So how successful was it?
The first-ever xD flash picture card was made in 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 and 512MB sizes. Later technology developments, such as the MLC architecture (Multi-Level Cell) and the ability to offer higher data rates, capped the xD picture card format at 8GB. Facing tough competition from Toshiba, SanDisk and Sony, the xD format was eventually defeated by SD, CF and Memory Stick cards. This is because xD's competitors had more advantages: all of them were released in the nineties, meaning that their manufacturers had years of experience ahead of Fujifilm and Olympus. Having their competitors actually make their product didn't help, either.
But what did help the xD format set itself apart from the competition was its friendliness and ease of programming use with supporting devices. Because xD emulated hard drives through the Flash Translation Layer, hardware units could directly access the card. xD was also similar to a well-known NAND type of transistor wiring, so camera makers and other electronic companies were interested in the format, but not for long.
When Fujifilm and Olympus realized that they were failing with the new memory card concept, they tried to help the xD format gain popularity by releasing newer, better, and faster types of picture cards, all of which failed to live up to the technological specifications of their rivals. For example, the original 1.3 MiB/s xD picture card was rolled out on the market in 2002 - just as Toshiba's SmartMedia format was replaced by Toshiba's SD/MMC units, and a year before CompactFlash cards could transfer data at 16MiB/s. The M type xD cards followed in 2005, and also fared worse in read and write speeds than the 2003's predecessor, the Sony Memory Stick. Later that same year, xD tried to rebound with type H picture cards, but that attempt came and went just as quickly as type M xD picture cards did. Finally, in 2008, Olympus and Fujifilm rolled out type M+ xD picture cards, which were available in sizes 1 and 2GB (types M and H also had these, just at slower read speeds), Supporting Panorama, 3D and art modes (Used by cameras supporting xD Cards). By that time, Sony released its 16GB Memory Stick Pro DUO, finally nailing that last nail in xD's Picture Card coffin.
xD picture cards are still available in capacities of up to 2GB, but slowly support and availability will be withdrawn as the capacities phase out and devices that support them fade away.
Jason Mills, Techdna.co.uk
Article Written By: Jason Mills, Techdna.co.uk
Article Source: http://news.techdna.co.uk/2010/02/xd-picture-card/
