Will it stick?

These days, it's hard to find a product that doesn't use Sony's memory stick. A portable media designed to link a variety of products and store digital data, the memory stick's 64MB storage capacity is expected to expand to 128MB.

But what's so hot about the stick? First, it's about the size of a stick of gum--great storage capacity packed into a small form. Second, it's in everything these days, including digital cameras, PCs, printers, MP3 players, digital voice recorders, and automobile navigational systems.

The memory stick is also reusable and because of its size, allows manufacturers to pack more features into smaller products. About 70 products use the memory stick and 117 companies support the technology.

An offshoot of the memory stick technology is the MagicGate Memory Stick, which encrypts files and allows music professionals to transport music files via the Internet without infringing on copyrights.

Gerard Andrews, director of business development at PortalPlayer, says the technology is growing. "It's the idea that memory stick interfaces allow the use of different products without having to buy additional accessories," Andrews says.

And Viking Components Inc. in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, has created the Intelliflash USB Memory Stick Reader, which provides easy and quick file transfers. The product allows memory sticks to be directly inserted into a computer without having to hook up a device such as a camera or voice recorder to the PC.

"It makes it really easy for users and it's fast--about 1.5 megabytes per second," says Christina Karpowitz, a public relations specialist at Viking. The Sony market is growing and we wanted to expand our line to include this technology."