Whats stopping flash drives from entering the mp3 player market?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the barriers preventing flash drives from dominating the MP3 player market, particularly in light of the Microsoft Zune's 8GB flash drive. Key factors include the profitability of integrating high-density chips into $500 smartphones rather than $50 MP3 players, and the high cost of larger capacity flash drives, which can reach prices around $1400 for 16GB models. Additionally, existing small MP3 players function as flash drives, indicating that the technology is already in use but not widely adopted due to economic considerations.

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I've come across an article regarding the new microsoft zune's having an 8gig flash drive. If sony can make a thumbnail size 4gb flash disk - what's stopping this technology from being expanded upon to larger sizes? Wouldn't it be faster and more compact?
 
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Price and scarcety of high density large capacity chips.
currently it's more profitable to put them into $500 cell phones than $50 MP3 players.
 
First, they already have. Those small mp3 players that just plug into the USB are effectively a flash drive, with a battery and controls. In fact you can use those type of players to carry regular files. Second, larger sizes cost more. About a year ago, I think, I saw an add for large capacity flash drives up to 16 gig. The 16 gb one cast to the order of about $1400.
 

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