A new format called slotMusic delivers music as DRM-free MP3 files on a microSD card, with a USB adaptor so you can plug it into any PC.
Hmm, not as convenient as downloads because you have to mess around with fiddly little cards.
If I want to buy music files on a physical medium I already can; on an established format called CD, that has DRM-free files without lossy compression.
So what is the advantage of these?
A CD won’t fit straight into your mp3 player, where as as you can plug one of these little cards straight into your car hifi, or your phone or your ‘hand held’ mp3 player (assuming they have a slot). No PC required, no fiddly ripping or transferring or copying required.
I used to have all my music on one big SD card that I could just plug in wherever. Now I have an iPhone so I have to fiddle about with iTunes to get anything on it. I wish it had an SD slot.
It’s true, though in my case I prefer to leave the MicroSD card in place on my phone, since it has critical stuff on it. We really need devices with a second slot, to make this easier. My iPod and iRiver MP3 players don’t have slots at all. And what if you have a pocketful of these? Not very handy.
I won’t say there are zero advantages (I just might pick up one of these at an airport) but they are small relative to the snags.
Tim