Iomega Corp. today announced the beginning of a strategic relationship with digital music peripheral maker Sonicblue. The companies will collaborate to build new Rio MP3 players equipped with Iomega’s internal PocketZip drive.
The PocketZip utilizes tiny matchbook-sized 100MB disks. The PocketZip was officially unveiled earlier this month, and Iomega says the disks will be available for as little as US$10 each — significantly cheaper and offering larger storage capacity than comparable solid-state alternatives, such as SmartMedia or CompactFlash cards.
The PocketZip 100MB disk and drive is the latest iteration of the Iomega technology once known as the Clik. 40MB Clik drives and disks are now available, but the new 100MB PocketZip drive isn’t expected to go on sale until the third quarter of this year. Iomega says the 40MB format will continue to be manufactured and supported.
Its new partnership with Sonicblue aside, Iomega is no stranger to the digital music storage scene. The company already sells a digital music player called the HipZip. The HipZip uses 40MB PocketZip media for storing music. The company has also previously announced plans to introduce a 100MB version of the HipZip later this year.