Reference: Types of Memory card

Are you confused by all the different types of media cards currently available for your camera, cell phone, PDA, etc? I wanted to provide a quick reference to all the media card form factors that are out there. Every card type has its advantages and disadvantages.

For example the SD form factor is the most popular, while the CF-II allows you to use Microdrives. Some media card types such as SmartMedia never took off.

Personally, one of my selection factors for buying new electronics is that the device needs to support SD cards. I hate having devices that can't support the same type of removable media. This is handy when you need to be able to off load the media to another device quickly.

Below is an excerpt from an Wikipedia article on the different type of media cards available. You might notice some media card form factors that you may never have heard of before, I know I did. If you want more information on any of them just click the link.

Name	Acronym	DRM
CompactFlash I	CF-I	None
CompactFlash II	CF-II	None
SmartMedia	SM / SMC	None
Memory Stick	MS	MagicGate
Memory Stick Duo	MSD	MagicGate
Memory Stick Micro M2	M2	MagicGate
Multimedia Card	MMC	None
Reduced Size Multimedia Card	RS-MMC	None
MMCmicro Card	MMCmicro	None
Secure Digital Card	SD	CPRM
miniSD Card	miniSD	CPRM
microSD Card	microSD	CPRM
xD-Picture Card	xD	None
Intelligent Stick	iStick	None