SanDisk Memory Stick PRO Duo Card Enables Multiple Features for Hot-Selling Sony PlayStation Portable; High Capacity Flash Memory Cards Are Needed to Store Movies, Music, Game Scores and Video Clips

Business Wire, May 18, 2005

LOS ANGELES -- While playing video games is a key feature of the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP), owners are discovering the need for high-capacity flash memory cards -- such as the SanDisk(R) Memory Stick PRO Duo(TM) -- to leverage other PSP functions, including its stunning display, which invite the storage of video clips, digital photos, MP3 music tracks and game data. SanDisk (Nasdaq:SNDK) is displaying its new gaming card line at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Room 7008 of the Los Angeles Convention Center.

SanDisk, the world's largest manufacturer of flash memory cards and the co-developer, with Sony, of the Memory Stick PRO format, offers the following information and tips on getting the most out of the PSP with a flash card:

--Full Use of PSP Features Requires a Flash Card -- While game- and movie-playing functions of the PSP can be engaged without additional memory, other functions require a flash storage card. SanDisk's new Memory Stick PRO Duo gaming card line, now shipping to retailers, currently has capacities as high as 1 gigabyte (GB)(a). By July, SanDisk plans to ship a 2GB gaming card.

--Sony UMD Disc is Not Recordable -- The Sony PSP has a proprietary storage medium called the UMD (Universal Media Disc), which produces DVD-quality images and audio but is not recordable or writable. Sony uses the disc for distribution of games, movies and music. Some elements of the games can be saved but only to a removable flash card.

--PSP-Supported Formats -- The PSP is capable of playing MP3-encoded music tracks, images from a digital camera in JPEG format, and digital home movies in MPEG-4 video (though formatted specifically for the PSP), but all of these require a flash card as the storage medium. The PSP console supports both Memory Stick Duo(TM), which has capacities of up to 128 megabytes (MB)(a), and Memory Stick PRO Duo, which currently has capacities of up to 1GB.

--Most Content Requires Higher Capacity Cards -- Some content, such as game data, requires minimal amounts of flash memory. But other content -- music, video clips, digital still photos and home movies -- increase the storage demands substantially. For instance, 90 minutes worth of video clips and/or home movies can consume between 300MB and 400MB in VHS quality video, when using a relatively low bit-rate of 384 kilobytes per second. Higher resolution video using a bit-rate of 768kbps can consume 600MB to 800MB of storage on the card, according to some reviewers' tests. (Source: Web review from Overclocking Projects, at http://ocprojects.extremecooling.org).

--PRO Duo Cards Are Faster Than Duo Cards -- SanDisk recommends using the Memory Stick PRO Duo cards in the PSP to speed the downloading of content, such as video. The write speed of the SanDisk Memory Stick PRO Duo is approximately twice the speed of a Memory Stick Duo, according to SanDisk's bench tests.

--Flash Card Uses Less Power Than Disc -- As another advantage of using a removable flash memory card, playback on the PSP requires less power from the rechargeable battery when accessing a SanDisk Memory Stick PRO Duo card compared to playing a UMD disc.

--PSP Users Like to Collect Video Clips -- Content that PSP users like to collect on their flash cards includes free downloads of video game promotion clips (usually offered through game websites), movie preview trailers (offered by both film studio and game websites), television commercials from around the world (a popular new electronic "collectible"), music and pay-to-own downloads of vintage TV programs and movies offered by several commercial web services.

--Video Clips Must be Converted to PSP Format -- The Sony PSP requires all videos to be converted to a unique MPEG-4 video format. Sony sells an optional conversion software program called Sony Image Converter 2, and there are other programs that can be downloaded for free from the Internet. One popular program is called PSP Video 9 (http://www.pspvideo9.com). That website also provides a tutorial and user forums.

--Music Playback and Storage -- For music, the Sony PSP can play MP3 music tracks and does not require a proprietary format or software for that.

--How To Transfer Content to a Flash Card -- Two ways to transfer video and audio content to a flash storage card for playback in the PSP are as follows: (1) Connect the PSP, with the card in its slot, to a personal computer using a USB cable with a mini-plug, with USB 2.0 allowing for the fastest transfers, or (2) Program the card through an accessory card reader/writer -- such as SanDisk's 12-in-1 Card Reader or SanDisk's MobileMate(TM) MS mini-reader -- that can be connected to the USB port of a PC.

SanDisk is the original inventor of flash storage cards and is the world's largest supplier of flash data storage card products, using its patented, high-density flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA and has operations worldwide, with more than half its sales outside the U.S.

SanDisk's product and executive images can be downloaded from http://www.sandisk.com/about/media.asp#photos