Substitute for CD? I dunno about that yet, but I do think that smart media (or equivilent type) cards are going to eventually REPLACE the hard drive as the mass storage device of choice for arranger keyboards. The advantage of a card is 'NO MOVING PARTS' and it also provides quicker access to data, and if I'm not mistaken, even faster than a hard drive affords.

Bangkokeys is right that 1 GB cards are already begining to hit the market now, and 1 GB is certainly more than enough needed to store music data for arranger keyboard type files I'd think. If more room is needed, just buy another card. The card data can also be easily backed up to your PC computer and subsequently a CD or DVD as well.

Yes, hard drives offer larger storage capacity (40 gig) initially, but the trade off is that they don't provide the flexiblity (exchanging data with friends) , convenience (tiny postage stamp sized) or portabibility (hard drives are delicate you need to exercise a LOT more care when moving your KB) as the tiny cards are.

OK, after all that enthusiasm, I'm still buying a Yamaha Tyros (and adding a Hard Drive) and not a Technics KN7000 (which includes a Compact SD Flash Card), so go figure,

- Scott