On the day that Apple announced a new 8-Gbyte flash player, Micron Technology said that it had begun sampling 8- and 16-Gbyte block-abstracted NAND flash.

The company will begin shipping the new flash later in 2009, Micron said. Micron did not state or imply that Apple's new Shuffle used the new flash memory.

What's block-abstracted NAND flash? Put simply, it's flash memory with its own optimized memory controller, meaning that third-party designers do not have to design or include their own flash controller, saving design cost and space. Moreover, the integrated controller can include its own wear-leveling algorithms, which allocate the blocks of memory that are written and rewritten. That can mean less cost and a more integrated design for flash-based devices, like MP3 players.

The new flash uses Micron's most advanced 34-nm technology.