Wal-Mart and Best Buy will sell MP3s on flash-memory cards

Here's a primer on the format:

• SlotMusic cards will be SanDisk MicroSD cards preloaded with music, album art and other extras.


• Each card will be packaged with a USB sleeve, making plug-in to any computer theoretically no problem.


• The details in the announcement seem intentionally vague on whether the disk will be a one-on-one alternative to CD albums, or whether record labels will create bundles that take advantage of the cards' 1 GB capacity.


• MP3 will be the audio format, with rates as high as 320 kbps rather than the grainier 128 kbps most commonly used to share MP3s. (The 128 kbps rate was chosen as the target for MP3 audio quality back in the early '90s, when ISDN lines were the future.)


• No DRM! Seriously, none.


• The Big Four music labels — EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner — have signed up.
  

Also, check out: SlotMusic.org