Micro SD HC Card, which class?

MP3 players Sansa Clip | Clip+
1

There are 3 different classes in the market: class 2, 4 and 6. (as i know of)

I bet class 2 is enough for the clip+. But does it support class 4, for higher transfer speed?

Maybe a class 4 would be a better choice in general so you might use the card with other devices, etc.

What’s your opinion?

2

For music, the speed of the card matters only in how long it takes to fill it. Class 2 and Class 6 cards will do equally as well for playing audio. A class 2 card might take up to 3 times as long to fill than a class 6 card though, so if you change the music often, a class 2 card wouldn’t be the best choice. A class 4 card could take around half the time a class 2 card does to fill. I generally avoid class 2 cards, and buy class 4 or class 6 cards.

3

how do you know what the class of the card is?Ihad never heard of that.

4

you would think it would be that easy but actually it is not.

Class rating is a different way of performing benchmarks on a storage device and measures the minimum transfer speed using very small random file transfers across the entire capacity of the card. Manufacturers commonly rate the speed of a cards using a different method. manufacturers usually rate the speed of a card using larger file sequential read/write transfers, which is a more real world application. Class rating only determines what the minimum transfer speed should be and has no affect on the maximum transfer speed of the card. you can have a class 2 card with transfer speeds of 9MBps write and 15MBps read when using 2 or 3MB file transfers as is the case with the newest manufactured sandisk mobile ultra microSD/SDHC cards. class rating was designed for and is only relevant for hi def video capture as hi def video capture requires a sustained minimum speed through out the entire capacity of the card.   

Message Edited by drlucky on 12-11-2009 03:20 PM

6

well thanks guys.thats one of those little things i would have never thought to look into.I’ve got a sandisk and some cheap one that came with my phone so one out of two isnt bad i guess lol

7

Class 6 is ~10% more expensive than class2, I would get class 6 because of the higher speeds.

8

“Class 6 is ~10% more expensive than class2”

That is usually true for the smaller cards in the US, however for a 16 GB micro SDHC card, class 6 is much more expensive than class 2. When class 6 cards are much more expensive, I often choose a class 4 card. I usually avoid class 2 cards, but if the price difference between a class 4 card and a class 2 card is great enough, I would buy a class 2 card. Some people have said that outside the US often all class 4 and especially class 6 cards are so much more expensive than class 2 ones.

9

I never saw a need for more than a Class 2 for audio use when I had my Fuze. Maybe if you’re loading your card with videos it makes sense, but just for audio, I think you’d be wasting money buying a Class 6 card. If you really must save a couple minutes loading up the card, and want to pay more for the capability, knock yourself out…but if you’re on a budget ( and who isn’t in this economy? ) and doing just audio,  a Class 2 is just fine…at least a SanDisk one, where they usually outperform that minimum rating on the card.

10

@marvin_martian wrote:
I never saw a need for more than a Class 2 for audio use when I had my Fuze. Maybe if you’re loading your card with videos it makes sense, but just for audio, I think you’d be wasting money buying a Class 6 card. If you really must save a couple minutes loading up the card, and want to pay more for the capability, knock yourself out…but if you’re on a budget ( and who isn’t in this economy? ) and doing just audio,  a Class 2 is just fine…at least a SanDisk one, where they usually outperform that minimum rating on the card.

Exactly.  I have a mixture of cards…classes 2, 4 and 6; and for my purposes (audio only) they all work fine.  I usually get what is on sale; and that’s why I have a few class 6’s in my collection-- they happened to be on sale at the time I purchased them.  But, having said that, I wouldn’t go out of my way to get a class 6.  I tend to have so many projects going on at once, a few extra minutes for the card to load isn’t a big deal…for me at least.

11

The most recent card I bought was an 8 GB class 4 micro SDHC card for around $20. I could have saved at most around $5 buying a class 2 card, or paid around $4 more for a class 6 card. Since class 2 can take twice as long as class 4 to fill, I decided on the class 4 one. If someone will rarely or never change the content on it, then class 2 is good enough. I listen to plenty of podcasts though, and I frequently change those, while rarely make changes to the music. So if I listened to music only and didn’t swap music very often, I might not even pay $1 more for a card faster than class 2. A class 2 16 GB card might take up to 2 hours or so to fill completely, so someone changing content often on a 16 GB card might be willing to pay much more to fill the card in under 40 minutes(class 6) or under an hour(class 4) than to take up to 2 hours or so to fill a class 2 card.

Message Edited by JK98 on 12-15-2009 10:40 AM