SD Card Compatibility Thread

[kornchild2002]

Not necessarily though. I have a older Rio product that has 64MB of internal memory and it has a compact flash slot. I have it loaded up with a 256MB card. The Rio was slated for 12 hours of running time on a single AA battery. I would constantly get over 12 hours regardless of where my music was coming from. The same goes for my cellphone and my roommate's iPhone. He plays music only off of his microSD card and my cellphone can use either its internal memory or microSD card. Both units still get around the advertised battery life when playing back audio.

So I know that the battery time will not always decrease as my ~9 year old Rio, 2 year old cellphone, and roommate's 1 year old iPhone don't. Hence, I am kinda curious if this is true with the Zen or not. I have a 16GB SDHC card coming in so it is only a matter of time before I really find out. If anything I see the battery life decreasing by only a couple of hours. I don't think SD cards consume enough power to decrease the battery life from 25 hours to around 12 hours as SD cards consume no more power than the internal memory of these devices.

[CrowdAds]

[grgt1994]

Originally Posted by Phoenix-X

Untill the SD card problem is fixed . . .

Just curious. What is the SD card problem?

[ZenChick]

The only problem I'm currently aware of is that media on the SD card does not integrate into the Zen's internal library; apparently, they exist on a separate list.

[swarmer]

According to the review on this site, you lose some other features such as ID3 browsing and boomarking with the SD card media on the Zen. So it's not some separate but equal library either... you just get basic folder browsing functionality: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archi...zen-review.php

Still, I imagine it would be manageable if you wanted to keep your music in the main memory and store your video files on an SD card.

[grgt1994]

Anyone here try using an SD card? If so, please post up with your impressions. Personally, this does not sound like an issue at all. Probably preferable to do it the way described. But I don't have a high capacity SD card to test it out (still too busy trying to figure out how to keep Video Converter from puking).

[qwerty_uk]

I use my SD card only for video at the moment, because the limited functionality with music is a problem.

You may be happy browsing for your music by folder, but you are also limited in the following ways:
- No resume function if you turn the player off while playing from SD
- No ability to add tracks to a playlist. You're stuck with the contents of one folder until you manually change to another
- Cannot go out of the menu to browse other media or change settings while music is playing (FM radio has this limitation too)
- No ability to sync SD contents with Windows Media Player. The MTP player compatibility only applies to the main memory. This means you can't do anything with ratings either

This is why I only use SD for videos, but I still have problems with this...

On the main memory, you can resume playback of a video from the previous position (unless you play another video in between - although playing music in between is fine). On the SD card, this is not possible. For feature-length videos, I split the video in to separate files for each chapter, so that I can at least go to back to the right chapter. Annoyingly though, while music on SD plays the whole folder in one go, with video, it plays one file then takes you back to the file list. So I have to manually select the next chapter to continue watching! GRRR!

[Skv012a]

I have a similar dilema: shell $ on a roomy Zen or on SDs. Say the Zen craps out(until we know how to disassemble and replace parts): bigger model = all money lost, but with main memory being SD a good deal of the $ is saved. Then a roomy stock model + SDs can mean much higher space cap, but I don't think I'll ever need more than 20-30GB. Lastly, if the new 32GB will have some of the rumored feats(wifi,BT,etc) it may be worth the price.

Right now I'm debating whether to sell my new V:M 30GB and get the new Z or keep that one and mod it. Can anyone please tell me if USB Host feature of Z:M is a soft or hardware matter(would I need the 60GB version or can I simply tweek the fw of the 30GB one)?

Thanks.

[ZenChick]

The USB Host feature of the ZVM60 is both hardware and firmware. You cannot add the feature to a ZVM30 simply by changing or hacking the firmware.

[grgt1994]

Thanks for the feedback on the issues with SD memory.

IMHO, the 4GB model is the way to go for now. It's stupid cheap ($100), and really capable. Plus you can always add an extra 4GB for hardly anything more. After a year or so, if I still love this thing, I'll get a 16GB card (prices will probably drop to virtually nothing by then) - or buy a higher capacity model. Zen FTW!

[starZz]

Looks like the sd limitation has been improved further by the latest firmware see http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...ad.php?t=23558

To download go http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/

[Valdr]

One more thing you can't do on SD is: you can't zoom & rotate photos

[Valdr]

I started this thread for users to share experiences with different SD cards - which worked fine and which caused problems.
Here you can find information about some of supported cards. Do you use another? Is it working? What's the manufacturer, type and capacity of this card?

[paintballfreak72]

i have a Sandisk SDHC 4Gb. Sandisk 2Gb, Impact 2Gb. all have worked excellent, the impact is the cheapo brand and is a little slower than the sandisk

[xjjjay]

I believe I already made a thread for this purpose -_-

[ZenChick]

Indeed. Located and merged.

[xjjjay]

Originally Posted by ZenChick

Indeed. Located and merged.

much appreciated

[Valdr]

Just tested GoodRam 4GB, works OK

[jonnyuk]

Hi just wondering if anyone as tried this particular brand of card in there zen also is this a good price for a 16 gb card


http://www.play.com/Electronics/Elec...searchsource=0

Or are there better deals to be had?
cheers
jonny

[Xenodius]

Newegg has an A-Data 16gb SDHC card that is supposedly pretty good, and probably the cheapest price anywhere. Don't know their international policies though.

[wizard_sexy]

i would definitely vote for the 16GB one...
SD has many problems.. which are not seen in the internal flash memory...