Let's face it when it comes to many of today's electronic wonder toys you need some form of storage for them. Things like iPods comes with little hard drives or solid state memory built-in. But, other devices like some MP3 players, digital cameras and even now camcorders both high definition and standard definition need some form of user replaceable memory. Currently there are a couple of different format standards the two that I am going to talk about are Secure Digital or SD memory and Compact Flash or CF memory. Both of these are in wide use for digital cameras and camcorders, with camcorders using SD memory more than CF. In fact I have not seen a camcorder that does use CF memory. I am guessing that is because CF cards a much large.

Now compact flash (CF) memory was the first format to come out and it has quite a lead on the other formats because of this compact flash is available in larger sizes and faster speeds. However, secure digital media while newer is starting to catch up. There are two things one generally needs no matter why type of flash memory you need or use. First you need good capacity second you need speed.

Now for capacity I like the smaller sized cards. I am perfectly happy having to swap out memory cards while using my digital camera knowing that if I should loose one, or one gets damaged that I haven't lost every image I shot. For my Pentax K20D dSLR camera and for my infrared only Fuji A900 and Pentax *ist I use 2GB secure digital cards. I find that even when shooting raw that I can get around 80 shots on a card with my 14.6MP K20D.

Now if you don't want to swap cards you can get secure digital cards up to 16GB and 32GB cards will be coming soon enough. Compact flash cards go up to 64GB in size. I have no doubt that both SD and CF will continue to grow in size and speed.

Now speed is the next thing and personally, I think it is important to buy the fastest memory cards you can afford. My feeling is that you should buy fast from the start, you are going to get a lot more use out of them before they are obsolete. For example had I bought standard speed SD cards for my digital cameras I would now have to buy new ones to use with my high definition SD flash memory camcorder. Because I bought fast I am now able to get more use from the memory cards I bought making them an even better deal.

Now for brand, it is my opinion you get what you pay for when it comes to brand. With this in mind I recommend Lexar brand cards and I can't stress this enough. Always, always buy your memory cards from a reputable dealer or from Lexar direct. Since the first solid state memory cards came on the market there have been counterfeits available. Counterfeits have gotten very good at looking like the real card, but they aren't the real thing. Counterfeits generally are much slower, are much more prone to failure and data corruption and in general the buyer is getting taken for a ride. I have even read of compatibility issues with counterfeit cards. If you are ever in doubt about a memory card contact the maker and they can help you figure out if you have a real card or a fake. Also, if a 16GB card is selling for $90 at places like Amazon.com, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. and the one you are looking at off eBay or whatever is $10 you can bet that the card is most likely a fake. You don't want fake.

For my flash memory needs I have tested and like the Lexar Professional 133x secure digital and compact flash cards. Besides being top quality cards construction wise, they include a limited lifetime warranty, free technical support, Lexar Backup n Sync software from Sharpcast, which includes 100MB of free online backup storage, Image Rescue 3 data recovery software and the SD card comes with a free SDHC reader Photo to ensure compatibility. Simply plug it in to a USB slot, plug in the card and your off.

Both the SD and CF cards offer the same extras, however the CF card doesn't come with a free reader. Both cards do include the backup software and the data recovery software.

Both cards are plenty fast enough and work well in my digital cameras and in the case of the SD card it works great in my HD flash memory camcorder. I have never had a corrupted memory card, nor have I had one fail on me. I have to say I am very pleased that the data recovery software is included on the card just in case. Having looked at it briefly I can say the interface is easy to use and understand and when I used it to recover some photos I purposely deleted on the cards it recovered them perfectly and quickly.

Memory cards are a fact of life. If you stick with a name brand like Lexar and you buy with an eye to the future, meaning you buy fast cards you will get a lot of use out of them before they are obsolete. Having recently purchased a high definition SD flash memory camcorder I am now more pleased than ever that I spent the extra money and bought the fastest cards I could afford and as always I am very happy with the Lexar cards.