Sony Europe Press Release

Sony doubles MICRO VAULT™ storage capacity - A huge 8GB available in MICRO VAULT ‘Midi’ line-up from October 2006

Oct 18, 2006 - Sony Recording Media & Energy (RME) division today announced the 8GB MICRO VAULT ‘Midi’, doubling the maximum capacity available in its line-up of USB flash storage devices. With 8GB native storage capacity the new MICRO VAULT is capable of holding over 2,000 MP3 songs or high definition images, or more than 20 hours of MPEG4 video footage1. In addition, the pre-installed Virtual Expander2 compression software allows you to store up to 3 times3 more data. MICRO VAULT Midi models now incorporate an innovative retractable USB connector port. Gone are the days of losing the protective cap. Simply extend the connector and you’re ready to plug and play. The LED indicator, signalling the ongoing read/write operation, is built into the semi-transparent slide button.

The Sony MICRO VAULT ‘Midi’ range is available with capacities of 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and now 8GB from November 2006, with a Hi-Speed USB (USB2.0) interface for the convenient transfer of large files4. The clear colour coding found running through all Sony MICRO VAULT ranges (MICRO VAULT ‘Midi’, ‘Excellence’ and ‘Tiny’) attributes a specific colour to each storage capacity which is reflected on the packaging as well as the capacity indication on the product itself.

The new 8GB MICRO VAULT ‘Midi’, which is brightly distinguished by its red capacity figure on the product and packaging will be available from November 2006.

1 MP3 :average 3.5 minutes per one MP3 file on 128kbps, images : 7Mega Pixels fine mode, MPEG4 : 768kbps.
2 MICRO VAULT Virtual Expander is compatible with Windows XP (SP1 and higher) and Windows 2000 (SP3 and higher). Administrator rights are required. This application only operates with MICRO VAULTs on which it was pre-installed at the time of purchase.
3 Depend on file types and contents.“3 times” is an average based on actual tests performed by Sony on a sample of 14files of various types and Canterbury Corpus method. For details see below compression ratio examples by file type.
4 Some computers or operating systems do not support USB2.0. In that case, please use a USB1.1 interface. Also, transfer speed may vary depending on the size and type of files.