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![]() From top to bottom: Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick PRO Duo, Memory Stick Micro (M2) | |
Media type | Flash memory card |
---|---|
Capacity | 128 MB (Original) 32 GB (PRO series) 2 TB (XC series) |
Developed by | Sony |
Extended to | Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo, Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo, and Memory Stick Micro |
The Memory Stick is a removable flash memory card format, originally launched by Sony in late 1998.[1] In addition to the original Memory Stick, this family includes the Memory Stick PRO, a revision that allows greater maximum storage capacity and faster file transfer speeds; Memory Stick Duo, a small-form-factor version of the Memory Stick (including the PRO Duo); the even smaller Memory Stick Micro (M2), and the Memory Stick PRO-HG, a high speed variant of the PRO to be used in high-definition video and still cameras.
As a proprietary format, Sony exclusively used Memory Stick on its products in the 2000s such as Cyber-shot digital cameras, Handycam digital camcorders, Sony Ericsson mobile phones, WEGA and Bravia TV sets, VAIO PCs, digital audio players, and the PlayStation Portable game console,[2] with the format being licensed to a few other companies early in its lifetime. With the increasing popularity of Secure Digital around 2010, Sony started to include SD in their devices, marking a surrender by Sony of its format war in the memory-card business and the end to further serious development of the format.[3] Despite this, Sony continues to support Memory Stick on certain newer devices through the use of adaptors.[4]