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Why SD card is called Secure Digital Card?

post #1 of 12
5/2/07 at 11:11pm
Thread Starter 
Anyone knows why?

I'm not being smart, but why SD card is secure digital? What's so secure about it that makes it different from others like compact flash card, memory stick, etc?
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post #2 of 12
5/2/07 at 11:15pm
wikipedia to the rescue:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital_Card

"The “Secure” in Secure Digital comes from the card’s origin. To create the SD card, Toshiba added encryption hardware to the already-existent MMC card, to calm music industry concerns that MMC cards would allow for easy piracy of music. (A similar scheme is the MagicGate standard used in Memory Sticks.) In theory, the encryption would allow some enforcement of Digital rights management[1] schemes on digital music, but the capability is rarely used."

Peace,

Graz
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post #3 of 12
5/3/07 at 12:06am
When i first saw SD i though they were SanDisk brand cards only hehehe
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post #4 of 12
5/3/07 at 3:41am
Thread Starter 
What, so you can't put your downloaded mp3s into SD card? I never used SD card apart for camera purpose, but don't some cell phones use SD card to play the music and store data?
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post #5 of 12
5/3/07 at 1:07pm
SD cards can be used for anything... i have no idea what is so secure in it
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post #6 of 12
5/3/07 at 1:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dj_mocok View Post
What, so you can't put your downloaded mp3s into SD card? I never used SD card apart for camera purpose, but don't some cell phones use SD card to play the music and store data?
thats not true..

I have this song on my sd card for my i930 windows phone..

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...endID=55643685

never know when your going to need to bust one of these out in everyday life...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-pwW2SO4mzg

i really do have this on my sd card for my phone..whipped it out a few times already.
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post #7 of 12
5/3/07 at 1:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dj_mocok View Post
What, so you can't put your downloaded mp3s into SD card? I never used SD card apart for camera purpose, but don't some cell phones use SD card to play the music and store data?
Already been answered. Just look at the Wiki.

SD cards can be used to secure data through encryption. But most applications do not use the encryption feature.
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post #8 of 12
5/3/07 at 7:09pm
Actually, I'm going to disagree with what the wikipedia says. If there's a reputable source that explains the same way, it'll be easier for me to swallow. Wikipedia as most people know can be changed and contributed to by anyone, so it's not very reliable in some cases.

I always beleived the "secure" was due to the hardware write protection "lock" located on the side of every SD card. It essentially works the same way as the old 3 1/2" floppies that had the same tabular lock.
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post #9 of 12
5/3/07 at 7:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Duke_Of_Eli View Post
Actually, I'm going to disagree with what the wikipedia says. If there's a reputable source that explains the same way, it'll be easier for me to swallow. Wikipedia as most people know can be changed and contributed to by anyone, so it's not very reliable in some cases.

I always beleived the "secure" was due to the hardware write protection "lock" located on the side of every SD card. It essentially works the same way as the old 3 1/2" floppies that had the same tabular lock.
http://www.sdcard.org/sd_memorycard/index.html

From the horse's mouth. The CPRM is what makes Secure Digital "secure".
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post #10 of 12
5/3/07 at 7:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrSlacker View Post
SD cards can be used for anything... i have no idea what is so secure in it
Let's say you're a music distributor and you want to sell your music in digital format in a SD card. Obviously, the RIAA and its various international clones will want you to lock down the content so the buyer can't just grab the files and share them on a P2P. So you use the SD's encryption system and the files can't be copied.

Someone who buys a blank SD card can put anything he wants on it, because he doesn't activate the encryption.

Yes, it's as stupid as it sounds. Who knows how much money was wasted to come up with this never-used encryption system just to satisfy the paranoia of the music cartels...
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post #11 of 12
5/3/07 at 8:40pm
Since when have product names been accurate?
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post #12 of 12
5/3/07 at 9:00pm
Cell phones in Japan use the encryption feature of SD cards for music. At least from what I can tell, pretty much all phones across the board that have SD card slots use it.
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