While I agree that piracy is illegal, it is not the reason to blame for Sony using the proprietary card on the Vita. Sony developed their own format long ago and use it with their products where they see fit. Why wouldn't they after spending all the time and money on developing it? They developed that micro card for phones. Almost all Sony cameras use their Memory Stick format except on I believe their DSLR to take advantage of the faster write speeds. Yes piracy killed software sales in the PSP, but that's not the reason the Vita has the M2 card slot. If it were, Sony would have eliminated expandable memory completely. And even then, that doesn't mean pirates won't attack it. Just look at Apple's devices. You are right though about needing to know component level soldering work and it may still not prove feasible. The best bet IS an adapter.