I did not have a Compact Flash card but needed one. I do however have other types of memory cards and if I could utilize any of those I would prefer that to buying yet another type.
There are as far as I know two types of adapters for this. Secure Digital to Compact Flash and Memory Stick II to Compact Flash. Since I have cards of both types already, it didn’t matter much which kind I got hold of, although I would prefer SD since I have more devices that accepts that kind.
After asking around in local shops it turns out that SD to CF is not a common product. No one had it. Maplin’s got it but I needed the card ASAP and going to the nearest of their stores would cost me a big portion of what a CF card costs + the time, so that wasn’t an option.
OK, I thought, I’ll go for MS to CF then. I wasn’t far from a Sony Centre and it’d be strange if they didn’t have it. They did have it, great!
- I’ll have one of those please.
- That’s £49.99.
- (silence)
- But you can have it for £39.99.
- No thanks.
That’s just madness. I am not an economical person but I can spot a ripoff. Who in their right mind would pay 50 quid for that? No memory included mind you. What are they thinking?
I have a theory. This is one of those products that they don’t really plan to sell individually but rather give away or give a heavy discount on when sold together with something much more expensive. So the customer should feel they’ve done a bargain. I’ve seen it before. When I bought a digital camera a few years ago(not Sony) I got the memory at half price. I had done my research so I knew I got the camera at a good price, but I also knew what the memory should cost and it wasn’t far from what I paid. They just had a type of memory with a price sticker on with a ridiculously high price so they could throw it in front of customers and say you’d get it for half price to close a deal. Pretty clever, but if you know your stuff it feels a bit silly when you’re supposed to appreciate it more than you do.
I’m not paying £39.99 for an adapter when I could get a Compact Flash card - the right type of memory - for half that. So I gave in and bought a CF card.
Sony would benefit from selling the adapters to a reasonable price or even giving them away for free. I don’t get it. Don’t they want people to buy and use Memory Sticks? If not, it worked with me, I will try to avoid it.
