Sony speeds up Memory Stick cards

Sony Electronics has announced it is speeding up the read and write times for its Memory Stick Pro and Memory Stick Pro Duo lines of removable flash memory cards. Starting in October, the consumer electronics giant will begin selling higher-speed cards that transfer data at rates of up to 80 megabits per second. Consumers will be able to buy 256MB, 512MB and 1GB versions of Memory Stick Pro and 256MB and 512MB versions of the Pro Duo. A 2GB version of the faster Memory Stick Pro as well as a 1GB version of the smaller Pro Duo, targeted for cell phones, will be available in November.

The cards are meant to make it faster for consumers to capture video and images with high-resolution digital camcorders and cameras, according to the company.