SanDisk Corp unveils secure memory card

SanDisk Corp on Tuesday introduced memory cards that let consumers move digital video and music among devices like cellphones and computers without violating copyright protection.

The first cards to go on the market in November will come preloaded with the Rolling Stones' new CD A Bigger Bang, said SanDisk, which helped pioneer flash memory storage cards used in phones and digital cameras.

Internet media company Yahoo Inc said customers who subscribe to its digital music service could use the card which will be sold under the name gruvi. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd also said it would support gruvi in its phones.

SanDisk's new cards come as the entertainment industry moves content to the internet and onto devices such as mobile phones. The industry is increasingly protecting its content with software that prevents copying to plain flash memory cards or other non-secure storage mediums.

SanDisk, based in Sunnyvale, California, hopes to convince other entertainment companies to sell their content preloaded on the cards.

"This enables secure content to be truly portable for the first time," SanDisk chief executive Eli Harari said.