The ubiquitous pen drive received its name from its shape of being similar to a pen in shape which could be put into a shirts pocket just like a pen. Over the period the pen drive is not just a flash storage but has become a multi purpose utility Swiss knife with an astounding array of features. The pen drive now feature mp3 playback, built in micro camera, voice recorders, biometric security using fingerprint scans.

The storage capacity of pen drives has been constantly going up and now pen drives are available upto 64Gb in size and we ma soon have a terabyte sized pen drive. Pen drives are sold every where, in retail outlets and over the internet as well and that too at very competitive prices. Pen drives are product of technology which is fast changing and we can always expect better and faster pen drives very soon.

Some of these pen drives have rechargeable batteries built in which get the charge from the USB pot of the computer when connected to. These pen drives often provide mp3 playback through earphones though the quality of the sound is not good but it is better that most of the portable cassette players available in the market. Some of the Pen drives are providing mini LCD displays for browsing of the mp3 songs stored in the pen drive.

With the advancement of technology, like mobile phones the pen drive is racing ahead with technology overdrive. Micro sized one mega pixel cameras are available in some of the pen drives which are able to click pictures on the go. Currently there are no view finders but soon these pen drives will have miniature LCD based view finders as well.

Almost all pen drives have sound recorders built in for recording sound through the in built microphone. Currently the microphone has a limited range but as technology advance this will also improve.