SanDisk, world leader in flash memory and developer of most formats thereof, is working with record labels to develop a new physical format for music albums – the SlotMusic – which is an album in high quality MP3 format on a MicroSD memory card.

The music will be encoded at a 320kb/s bitrate, which is a higher quality than most downloadable music is offered at, and will feature no Digital Rights Management whatsoever… at least in the beginning. Other features may include metadata such as album and track info, lyrics, videos and other special features; after all, there’s plenty of space on the 1GB cards to put ten mp3 format albums in, might as well use the space.

SanDisk, the developer of the MicroSD technology, is going to supply the cards at bulk price to record labels, and will also include a USB adapter, which will allow the cards to be read by any computer with USB ports. The completed SlotMusic albums however, which will according to media sources be sold by record labels for a sum of $7 - $10 (cheaper than what the blank cards are selling for from SanDisk), is primarily targeted to mobile phone owners as more and more mobile phones have been equipped with MicroSD slots lately. However if the format takes off more equipment, such as car stereos, may start coming with card readers.

Bringing about a new media format is a move intended to offset the sharp decline of audio CD sales, which have dropped from their 2000 peak of $942 million, to $511 million in 2007 according to the RIAA. Even as CD sales plummet, legally downloaded song sales have risen exponentially, as iTunes has so far sold more than 5 billion songs.

The last ditch effort to reclaim physical media’s market share may be superfluous, as the sales figures simply indicate the natural evolution of the music business toward digital media, which the record companies will embrace if they’re smart. If the successes of the Amazon.com music store and iTunes aren’t big enough hints, I don’t know what is. And for those who prefer a physical disk to own, well the CD is still doing a good enough job as it is and unlike a MicroSD, there’s little chance you’ll lose a CD under the carpet.