Dataplay

Dataplay is a digital storage medium created by the company of the same name. According to the FAQs on the website (http://www.dataplay.com) the devices which support this technology will be released starting in 2001 (now). Each DataPlay disk is the size of a quarter and can store up to 500 megabytes. The disks are write-once. Dataplay also created a reader (which is to be incorporated into other consumer devices) called "Dataplay micro-optical engine" which is supposed to have a "very-large" buffer and work 10 hours on a single AA battery. As far as I can tell there are no real devices out there at his point in time that use this technology, even though it has been show-cased on 2001 CES - vapourware.

More info @ www.dataplay.com

DataPlay is also the name of my new mp3 player. Not surprisingly, it uses the dataplay media discs described in the above writeup. Produced by Classic, a very excellent mp3 player manufacturer, this device is available at Circuit City for $199.99. Mine came with a $30 rebate as well. It contained 1 DataPlay disc and there was also a pack of 3 more discs for $34.99 available.

So far, I would consider this a really good form of storage medium. It is worth mentioning that the dataplay disc is two-sided, with 250 megs of storage on each side. The DataPlay mp3 player is packaged with software required to play any stored mp3s, but as far as I can tell you can also store a variety of files on the dataplay disc for purposes of transfer. When the mp3 player is connected to my computer via USB, it appears as a separate drive number. However, any music I placed into it didn't register when the player was activated.

One small setback I have discovered concerning the dataplay discs is that they are hard to label... they are tiny, and the small white paper sticker on the otherwise transparent discs is even tinier.