Analysis - Is pre-bundled content the future for Flash drives?

[HEXUS]

With Flash memory becoming such a cheap commodity, is it time the industry put more effort into pre-loading devices with content??

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[Lucio]

Here's a thought, is it perhaps the reverse idea that's more relevant, that content providers should be bundling useful technology with their product? For example, that $10 or $15 film, comes with a reusable branded 2GB flash drive.

[jim]

Thing is, you can't just sell it as a "USB drive with free film" or everyone will just think "another thing to delete".

If you stood at the counter and had the choice between film on disc or film on USB, it would probably be more sensible. A complete flop, but more sensible.

[cordas]

Sorry but memory keys are storage....

Yes it would be nice to buy a 32gb memory key that had a load of albums/ movies / tv series on that I want... but unless I get to choose what fills that key I ain't interested.

As for 1/2/4/8gb sticks... I ain't interested they are too small to be worth the effort. I don't want to have a bag full of small memory keys that will inevitably get lost/confused, I want 1 or 2 big ones that I ain't going to loose.

[Salazaar]

Agreed with the above, trying to sell a few USB drive by bundling a film is foolish. Selling USB drives to film companies in order to distribute their film is a much better idea.

[OilSheikh]

This is a totally flop idea. But, we wouldn't mind bundled software.

[Xoni]

Rollup, roll up, get your pre-filled memory right here!

Why bother taking the time and effort to fill it yourself, when we can do that for you...

[chrestomanci]

I can't see this making economic sense. The media companies will charge a decent amount per device to pre-load it with their content, but only a fraction of buyers will attach any value to that content.

A better bet would be to pre-load the flash drive with something that does not cost anything in per device fees, but that some people will find usefull. For example, we have all seen the news item about the Wiki Reader that is preloaded with 4Gb of Wikpedia articles. If the same 4Gb of content was free on a mobile phone memory card for reading on a phone, then many people would see that as a useful product in itself.

Another option would be a USB bootable Linux distro. These days most Linux distros can be installed on a USB pendrive to turn the thing into a portable PC with persistent storage without the hardware. Setting up a bootable USB pendirive is quite tricky though, so it is much better done in the factory by the manufacturer. Users who don't want it can just format the drive.

[nightkhaos]

Another option would be a USB bootable Linux distro. These days most Linux distros can be installed on a USB pendrive to turn the thing into a portable PC with persistent storage without the hardware. Setting up a bootable USB pendirive is quite tricky though, so it is much better done in the factory by the manufacturer. Users who don't want it can just format the drive.

It would be an easy way to give publicity of your distro. I can see Ubuntu giving 2GB flash drives with Ubuntu preloaded at a computer conviention to get their name out there...