"...Imation will be the first U.S. manufacturer of storage products that use technology from DataPlay, which has figured out how to cram as much as 500MB of data onto a disc the size of a matchbook. DataPlay and Imation, the maker of a variety of data storage products, are making the announcement on Tuesday.

DataPlay unveiled its newest optical technology at the Consumer Electronics show earlier this year. The company is promoting the tiny, write-once disks as an alternative to flash memory cards widely used in portable devices--and especially suited to storing digital music. The durable disks are expected to cost between $5 and $12 when the devices and media start shipping in the fourth quarter of this year. Players and recorders are expected to sell for $199 to $299, says Dave Davies, DataPlay's chief technical officer..."