Sansa: thanks, now please give me a 16GB Clip (Black) or even better, put an SDHC Card Slot in it

Going a slightly different route, I don’t understand, similarly given the fallen price of memory, why a high capacity flash player is not yet out.  Like 64 (which is still a bit low for this), 96 or 128 gb.  My first MP3 player, an iRiver 40 gb hard drive player, retailed at $400-$500 5-6 years ago, which then was the going price for the high capacity iPod.  I can’t but imagine that people gladly would pay $300-$400 now for a modern flash high capacity player.  Whoever comes out with it first will have a corner on the market; only Apple and Microsoft even offer hard drive capacity DAPs right now (plus Archos, in a slightly different area). 

@miikerman wrote:
Going a slightly different route, I don’t understand, similarly given the fallen price of memory, why a high capacity flash player is not yet out.  Like 64 (which is still a bit low for this), 96 or 128 gb.  My first MP3 player, an iRiver 40 gb hard drive player, retailed at $400-$500 5-6 years ago, which then was the going price for the high capacity iPod.  I can’t but imagine that people gladly would pay $300-$400 now for a modern flash high capacity player.  Whoever comes out with it first will have a corner on the market; only Apple and Microsoft even offer hard drive capacity DAPs right now (plus Archos, in a slightly different area). 

People are paying that now for 32GB flash players, example the Touch, Sony X-series.So I wonder if some other company would willingly offer a lower profit margin 64GB flash player for that price, and I’m inclined to doubt it, unfortunately.

Understood.  At the same time, those are last-year prices, before memory prices came down so dramatically the last half year/9 months.  I fully expect someone to do it at some point.  My hunch is that it will be Apple (again), that does so–just wish it was someone else, SanDisk (doesn’t being a flash leader give you an insider advantage?) …   

I don’t know how big the memory chips are dimensionally, but the Fuze certainly would seem to be big enough to hold 32GB onboard, plus a slot. That would be pretty sweet, given that my collection is currently 32.7 GB, and 95.9% of that is lossy. I’m unsure about the Clip. I am inclined to think they’d be more likely to increase the Clips internal memory and not add a slot, so as to not cannibalize Fuze sales…but I could be entirely wrong too.

@marvin_martian wrote:
I don’t know how big the memory chips are dimensionally

Look at it this way – if they can fit 16 to 32 gigabytes onto a thumbnail-sized MicroSDHC card, then they can fit 128 GB or more into something with the Clip’s form-factor without breaking a sweat.

But how long would it take the processor to read the contents of 128GB?

The database design would have to be pretty clever, at least.

@promisedplanet wrote:

But how long would it take the processor to read the contents of 128GB?

 

Who cares?

That wasn’t even close to related to the question I answered, which had to do with physical size of flash RAM.  All I pointed out was that there’s no realistic limit (note the word “realisitic”).

As to performance, a few tweaked algorithims would definitely help, but the easiest solution IMO would be to go to a hybrid methodology – use tree-navigation as first-level browsing, then, within each folder, read the tags.  Keep a separate database table per folder if necessary for performance, and buffer most-recently-used folders to speed up ops.

This kind of stuff is childsplay for any halfway competent coder. (former coder speaking)

PS: If you’ve used a Clip, you know that the infamous Sansa Database Update ONLY occurs when the device is actually updated – there’s NO need to update the database when powering-up, since there’s NO possibility of the user having slipped in a MicroSD card while powered-down.  The lack of SD support on the Clip has this as a very positive side-benefit.

Give me a 32GB Clip, (at 1.5x size for bigger battery) and I would sell my Fuze in a heartbeat, given that I never watch video. Who knows what they would charge for  Clip like I describe though?

@marvin_martian wrote:
Give me a 32GB Clip, (at 1.5x size for bigger battery) and I would sell my Fuze in a heartbeat, given that I never watch video. Who knows what they would charge for  Clip like I describe though?

Precisely – I prefer the Clip form factor but 8gb of storage is completely inadequate.  They’re selling 32gb memory that fits in a USB thumb drive for under $70 – a 32gb Clip really shouldn’t be too terribly expensive. People spending $300-$400 for a Touch or a Sony are paying for features and capabilites, not storage. And as I said up-thread, they could double the size to include an E5-type amp onboard and it would be perfect.

Two years down the road and I am still enjoying my musing with the Clip (now +) in the gym and office.

Currently I have a clip+ 4GB + 32GB micro SD. And I have already ran out of space - 36GB of quality 6 ogg songs, 5,500 - ahout one fourth of my CD collection.

Two years down the road and I am still enjoying my musing with the Clip (now +) in the gym and office.

Currently I have a clip+ 4GB + 32GB micro SD. And I have already ran out of space - 36GB of quality 6 ogg songs, 5,500 - ahout one fourth of my CD collection.

Here’s my updated wish-list for the Clip++:

Two years down the road and I am still enjoying my musing with the Clip (now +) in the gym and office.

Currently I have a clip+ 4GB + 32GB micro SD. And I have already ran out of space - 36GB of quality 6 ogg songs, 5,500 - ahout one fourth of my CD collection.

Here’s my updated wish-list for the Clip++:

  • 16GB base memory

  • micro SD slot with support for the upcoming higher-capacity standard (surely you are writing that standard, so you will know how to ensure compatibility)

  • increased battery life, pretty please - this is the biggest current issue, IMHO

  • same audio circuitry

Two years down the road and I am still enjoying my musing with the Clip (now +) in the gym and office.

Currently I have a clip+ 4GB + 32GB micro SD. And I have already ran out of space - 36GB of quality 6 ogg songs, 5,500 - ahout one fourth of my CD collection.

Here’s my updated wish-list for the Clip++:

  • 16GB base memory

  • micro SD slot with support for the upcoming higher-capacity standard (surely you are writing that standard, so you will know how to ensure compatibility)

  • increased battery life, pretty please - this is the biggest current issue, IMHO

  • same audio circuitry

Two years down the road and I am still enjoying my musing with the Clip (now +) in the gym and office.

Currently I have a clip+ 4GB + 32GB micro SD. And I have already ran out of space - 36GB of quality 6 ogg songs, 5,500 - ahout one fourth of my CD collection.

Here’s my updated wish-list for the Clip++:

  • 16GB base memory

  • micro SD slot with support for the upcoming higher-capacity standard (surely you are writing that standard, so you will know how to ensure compatibility)

  • increased battery life, pretty please - this is the biggest current issue, IMHO

  • same audio circuitry

Regarding the clip audio quality, recently I upgraded my earbuds to a pair of relatively expensive Klipsh S4 and I am totally amazed at how rich my music sounds; the choice of Vorbis and the AOTUV encoder are now paying off. Please never ever compromise audio quality in your design.

Two years down the road and I am still enjoying my musing with the Clip (now +) in the gym and office.

Currently I have a clip+ 4GB + 32GB micro SD. And I have already ran out of space - 36GB of quality 6 ogg songs, 5,500 - ahout one fourth of my CD collection.

Here’s my updated wish-list for the Clip++:

  • 16GB base memory

  • micro SD slot with support for the upcoming higher-capacity standard (surely you are writing that standard, so you will know how to ensure compatibility)

  • increased battery life, pretty please - this is the biggest current issue, IMHO

  • same audio circuitry

Two years down the road, and I am still enjoying my clip in the gym and in the office.

Currently I have a clip+ 4GB + 32GB card and it is already maxed out. Full of 5,500 ogg songs, about one fourth of my cd collection.

Here’s my wishlist for the clip++:

  • 16GB base memory

  • support for higher-capacity micro sdhc upcoming standard (since you are writing the standard anyways…)

  • increased battery life!! please! (20 hours minimum)

  • same audio quality

RE audio quality - I am still amazed at how well this thing sounds. Recently upgrade my earbuds to klipsch s4’s and I am rediscovering my music!

RE the battery life - lots of room for improvement, as the competition is giving their users 60 hours of continuous play in a very small player. I would think most people would readily trade off a few grams or millimiters in exchange for a more decent battery life.

Thanks

@ari wrote:

Two years down the road, and I am still enjoying my clip in the gym and in the office.

Currently I have a clip+ 4GB + 32GB card and it is already maxed out. Full of 5,500 ogg songs, about one fourth of my cd collection.

Here’s my wishlist for the clip++:

  • 16GB base memory
  • support for higher-capacity micro sdhc upcoming standard (since you are writing the standard anyways…)
  • increased battery life!! please! (20 hours minimum)
  • same audio quality

RE audio quality - I am still amazed at how well this thing sounds. Recently upgrade my earbuds to klipsch s4’s and I am rediscovering my music!

RE the battery life - lots of room for improvement, as the competition is giving their users 60 hours of continuous play in a very small player. I would think most people would readily trade off a few grams or millimiters in exchange for a more decent battery life.

Thanks

Rockbox your Clip+…your battery life with ogg files will be much better!:wink:

In 2011 expect the release of 64 GB micro SDXC cards. They might be $200+ though when they are first released. By then there will probably be 128 GB full sized SDXC cards. Perhaps with the release of micro SDXC cards Sandisk might soon release players that take micro SDXC cards? They seem very resistant to releasing a player with a full sized SDXC card slot.

@jk98 wrote:

In 2011 expect the release of 64 GB micro SDXC cards. They might be $200+ though when they are first released. By then there will probably be 128 GB full sized SDXC cards. Perhaps with the release of micro SDXC cards Sandisk might soon release players that take micro SDXC cards? They seem very resistant to releasing a player with a full sized SDXC card slot.

Nobody else has released one either. :wink:

@jk98 wrote:

In 2011 expect the release of 64 GB micro SDXC cards. They might be $200+ though when they are first released.

I’ll bet they’ll be closer to $300 (or even $400) if (and/or) when they do come out. The 32GB Micro SDHC card still has a MSRP of $199. You’re talking twice the memory in a completely new format. That’s going to cost on initial release.

Canon has recently released some low priced digital cameras that support SDXC cards. I hope Sandisk and other mp3 player makers follow Canon’s lead. Canon also makes several digital cameras that use AA batteries. If we can’t convince Sandisk to make players that use AA batteries and have an SDXC card slot, then perhaps we might be able to convince Canon to start making mp3 players?

@jk98 wrote:

Canon has recently released some low priced digital cameras that support SDXC cards. I hope Sandisk and other mp3 player makers follow Canon’s lead. Canon also makes several digital cameras that use AA batteries. If we can’t convince Sandisk to make players that use AA batteries and have an SDXC card slot, then perhaps we might be able to convince Canon to start making mp3 players?

I have a low priced Nikon camera that uses AA batteries…that doesn’t mean I want them to make an MP3 player! Let them stick to what they are good at.

Full sized 64 GB SDXC cards are now around $210 for Sandisk, and around $130 for a different brand. I doubt 64 GB micro SDXC cards will be over $200 when they are released. Even $200 will be a hefty price of around $3 a GB, and smaller capacity SDHC cards might be priced at under $1.50 a GB then.

@jk98 wrote:

Full sized 64 GB SDXC cards are now around $210 for Sandisk, and around $130 for a different brand. I doubt 64 GB micro SDXC cards will be over $200 when they are released.

I don’t. You’re comparing apples to oranges. Full-size SD cards have always been much less expensive than the Micro size. SanDisk’s 32GB Micro SDHC card came out at $200 and that is still listed as the ‘regular’ price. How you expect the 64GB SDXC format card to debut for the same price as a card half it’s capacity (and in a brand new format) is beyond me.