Does the class make a difference on the clip+. Example, would a class 6 microsd catalog a database faster than a class 2 microsd.
I was thinking of getting a 16gb microsd, if a class 6 loads music faster than a 2 , I might consider getting a 6.
The faster Class speeds write data to the card faster. Reading speed is the same.
I see. So there are no msds that faster than others in reading data.
@miikerman wrote:
Thanks for that information, Tapeworm. Are we talking a significant amount of difference of time for writing? I’m wondering, if a 16gb microSDHC Class 2 card is available for around $40 and a Class 6 card would cost $25 more, is it worthwhile to spend the extra $25?
edit: I’ve been looking into and calculating write speeds a bit, and I must say, it gets a bit confusing, as I’m finding that the write speed seemingly also can vary by file size (let alone by manufacturer, with at least some SanDisk cards seeming to have write speeds in reality that are significantly faster than the guaranteed Class speeds).
Yeah, it is very confusing (intentionally, I think). Vendors almost never quote actual read/write speeds. All you get is the Class rating, which is the minimum guaranteed MB/sec write speed. In other words a Class 6 card should always maintain 6 MB/sec or faster when writing to it, no matter what type, size or quantity of files you throw at it. I think this weird spec evolved from the camera/video world where it was critical to know if a given card could keep up with the frame rate you wanted to shoot at. Unfortunately, the Class rating tells you nothing about average/maximium performance.
Nearly all cards have much higher read speeds than write speeds, so differences in Classes is less important when you’re talking about reading. A Class 6 card may or may not read any faster than a Class 2 card. In general you would expect a Class 6 card to be better in all performance specs than a Class 2 card, but there’s no guarantee.
I don’t have any specific “average” load time to give you, but the Class 6 card should be much faster to load than the Class 2. Whether you care about the difference really depends on your patience and and the size/amount of files you expect to be moving on a regular basis.
I would go with the Class 6, but I wouldn’t pay $25 more. Newegg has a few 16GB Class 6 cards in the $50-55 range.
Am I correct to think the built-in capacity of a Clip+ is also MicroSD? If so, what class is the built-in?
Thanks!
I spoke to a not-terribly-helpful support person – she seemed to say:
- that the built-in memory is class 2
2) that the device only supports up to class 4 (perhaps meaning that if you give it a class 6, it’ll still behave more like a 4)
- that she had no idea if a 32GB card would work when they become available
But I didn’t feel confident I was getting solid info…
The class won’t matter as much because the MicroSDHC interface is already limited to 10MB/s Read/Write.
And when you consider that the files you are writing are very large, the “minimum” write speeds you will be seeing will be far above spec.
I’m using a Class 2 card, and I still see almost 5MB/s average write copying mp3 files (average size is around 6MB). A Class 4 card would probably top 8MB/s, and a Class 6 would be totally wasted (given the high price premium).
But if you have a bunch of 128K music files, I guess you would want to pay the extra 
fwiw, I just got a 16GB Class 6 for $50 from NewEgg – it also seems to come with a pair of adapters (don’t expect to use them), and the shipping was just $3 more – so that didn’t seem like too much more as compared to the 16GB Class 2 cards…
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820183245
