The Memory Stick PRO, introduced on January 9, 2003, as a joint effort between Sony and SanDisk, [25] would be the longer-lasting solution to the space problem.

SONY MSAC-M2 OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS Pdf Download | ManualsLib SONY MSAC-M2 OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS Pdf Download | ManualsLib

SanDisk and Sony develop “Memory Stick Micro” (M2) format – SanDisk/Sony press release, September 30, 2005. While only serial and 4-bit parallel interfaces are supported in the Memory Stick PRO format, an 8-bit parallel interface was added to the Memory Stick PRO-HG format. Sony's first significant migration away from Memory Stick did not come until 2019, when it introduced the α7R IV full-frame mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera without Memory Stick support, opting instead for dual SDXC slots.

A prime example was the development of WiFi transfers through a special Memory Stick PRO-Duo which was still in development as of 2011 [update].

Sony Media Memory Stick Duo Replacement Adaptor (MSAC-M2)

It is slightly smaller than the competing Secure Digital (SD) format and roughly two thirds the length of the standard Memory Stick form factor, but costs more. However, not all devices with a PRO slot are compatible with the M2/Adapter combination, as the firmware of older devices don't support the higher capacity of some M2 cards. High-capacity Memory Sticks such as the 4 GB versions are expensive compared to other types of flash memory such as SD cards and CompactFlash. Sony announced the release of the Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX on May 17, 2011, which was considered the fastest card ever made by the manufacturer.Inserting the Memory Stick Duo into the Memory Stick slot (without using the adaptor) may create some problems. In spring 2001, Memory Stick attained 25% market share (against CompactFlash's 40% and SmartMedia's 32%), up from 7% a year earlier. No Memory Stick XC cards were released to the market, likely due to domination of SD cards; its equivalent here is named SDXC and eventually became more successful than any other exFAT-based memory card format. This solution was fairly unpopular, but it did give users of older Memory Stick devices more capacity. With the increasing popularity of Secure Digital around 2010, Sony started to include SD in their devices, marking a surrender by Sony of its format war in the memory-card business and the end to further serious development of the format.

to use the Memory Stick Duo? | Sony IN How to use the Memory Stick Duo? | Sony IN

roughly one-quarter the size of the Duo) with 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB capacities available. However the SD card, jointly developed by Toshiba, Panasonic and SanDisk, became widely popular among companies and soon became the most popular flash format– by November 2003 it held 42% market share in the United States, ahead of CompactFlash's 26% and Memory Stick with 16%.In line with the rest of the industry, the XC series uses the newer exFAT file system due to size and formatting limitations of FAT/FAT16/FAT32 filesystems used in the PRO series. Sony announced on June 1, 2009, that M2 support in Sony Ericsson phones would be dropped in favor of microSD. A simple adapter allows Memory Stick Duo to be used in devices designed to accept the original Memory Stick form factor. However, as with the PRO Duo format, it has been expanded through the XC series as Memory Stick XC Micro and Memory Stick XC-HG Micro, both with the theoretical maximum capacity of 2TB.

MSAC-M2 | Sony USA Manuals for MSAC-M2 | Sony USA

In October 1999, Sony licensed the technology to Fujitsu, Aiwa, Sanyo, Sharp, Pioneer and Kenwood, in a bid to avoid a repetition of the Betamax failure. Sony has since finalized the format and released its specification under the new name, Memory Stick XC (see below).Complete Memory Stick® Media Compatibility Information for Sony® Digital Cameras Sony eSupport July 2011. All Memory Stick PROs larger than 1 GB support this high-speed mode, and High Speed Memory Stick PROs are backwards-compatible with devices that don't support the high-speed mode. The Memory Stick Select contained two separate 128MB partitions which the user could switch between using a physical switch on the card. In 2009, Sony and SanDisk also announced the joint development of an expanded Memory Stick PRO format tentatively named "Memory Stick PRO Format for Extended High Capacity".