As technology evolves, more products are being introduced in the market and produced each day. Each has its own purpose and function, same is happening in the music industry for MP3 Players and Memory Cards. How to choose the best memory card to use in your MP3 player; and where to buy from; these are some of the issues you may wish to find out more. Here we did some research for you and wish to offer you for your consideration.
Types of Memory Cards
With technology come with different ideas and constant changing in product design and function. This apply to small size product like memory card, which first came into the market around 1994. Throughout the years, many types of memory cards have been designed and produced in the market.
Here are some common types of memory cards:
- microSD card
- mini SD card
- SD card
- CompactFlash
- SmartMedia
- Memory Stick
- MultiMediaCard (MMC)
- USB Flashdrive
Thanks to the SD association in 2000, which formed by three big technology companies – Panasonic, SanDisk and Toshiba. The SD association set the industry standards of the memory card and encourage the adoption of SD (secure digital) technology. Today, we do not need to carry multiple types of memory card, because all devices must be able to handle SD technology. The only type of memory card you should consider is -> SD card.
There are three main types of SD card format:
- SDSC (Secure Digital Standard Capacity) – capacities range from 128MB to 2GB
- SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) – capacities range from 4GB to 32GB
- SDXC (Secure Digital Xtra Capacity) – capacities range from 64GB to 2TB
Various speed are incorporating into different memory card for all kinds of applications. Each has its own usage and purpose:
- Class 0 – Legacy and no speed rating
- Class 2 – min transfer speed of 2MB/s
- Class 4 – min transfer speed of 4MB/s
- Class 6 – min transfer speed of 6MB/s.
- Class 10 – min transfer speed of 10MB/s
- UI – min transfer speed of 10MB/s for high-quality video capturing in real-time broadcasting
- U3 – min transfer speed of 30MB/s for 4K, 60/120 FPS HD TV show broadcasting, best quality video recording
- V6 – min 6MB/s for HD video
- V10 – min 10MB/s for Full HD video
- V30 – min 30MB/s for 1080p and 4K HD video
- V60 – min 60MB/s for 8K HD video at 60/120 FPS
- V90 – min 90MB/s for 8K HD video at 60/120 FPS
For music application on MP3 player, use of SDSC with Class 2 is good enough to record all the music on the card.
Main Functions of Memory Card
The purpose of memory card is to store information digitally, and for a MP3 player its main usage is to record all the music you wish to listen often. There are two main functions the memory card will do, reading and writing of data on the card. Writing speed is always slower than reading speed because it consumes more power and need charging the chip-based memory.
On the memory card, there are in fact flash memory chip on it. Comparing with the old media storage device like CD ROM, DVD Disk, SD Memory card is more compact and portable to bring along. The data which you can store on the memory card is also much higher than traditional media storage device.
Memory Cards Pricing
The pricing of memory card depends on its storage size. A memory card of 2GB will be much cheaper than one with 64GB. However, all manufacturers have stopped producing lower capacity of memory card like 2GB, 4GB or even 8GB due to lower market demand and production cost structure. Typically, the market are filled with 16GB microSD card with 32GB becoming standard in sooner time. Price range of memory cards on the market for your reference:
- 16GB microSD card Class 4 => US$6.32
- 32GB microSD card Class 4 => US$11.35
Above pricing is just for referencing only. The actual pricing move along with the market demand and supply. Therefore, always check the latest pricing with the authorized source to ensure genuine product is being offered from the original manufacturer.
Different Brands of Memory Card
Popular brands of memory card consists of:
- SanDisk
- Lexar
- PNY
- Panasonic
- Toshiba
- Samsung
Here are the 10 best micro SD card in 2017 selected by third party reviewer. You may consider any of them:
Memory Cards Suitable For MP3 Player
Because of the size of MP3 player, the microSD card is the most ideal type of memory card used in MP3 player. Before buying the memory card, decide how much storage you need, the speed you want and whether the memory card is compatible with your MP3 player (you may refer to the user manual). If the MP3 player is backward compatible, it should able to read older format of memory card.
With the memory card, you can increase the storage size of the MP3 songs you install on the player. The built-in onboard memory on the player itself is usually limited, thus with the external memory card you can upgrade the storage capacity. Furthermore, the memory card can be removed and transfer the file to other devices.
Place to Buy Your Memory Card
We may buy from Amazon Online Store for your purchase of Memory Card. Being the largest and No. 1 Online Marketplace, Amazon has full range and wide selection of Memory card you need. With the convenience of shopping online, you can save your time travelling out to the local outlet to get the memory card of your choice. Just sit back and relax, select your choice and letĀ Amazon do the pickup and delivery to your doorstep.
Click below to visit Amazon store
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Most of the MP3 players need memory cards to expand its storage size, and choosing the best SD card for music become important during the selection phrase. For small size MP3 players, micro SD card will be needed due to size constraint.Ā
On Amazon store, you can purchase the suitable memory cards for playing music, audio recording, and many more application. Check out other articles on our website, to explore various kinds Hot Electronics Products available in market.
Hi and thanks for the superb breakdown of the different available types of quality memory cards for MP3 players. Iām very glad you created this article as it can be really tough to decide what is the best option for a guy like me that is not that tech savvy. Thanks again for the good work and I hope to view your site again soon. Kenny
Hi Kenny,
Welcome to my site and I will be glad for you to visit it often.
This site mainly provide reviews for electronics products found in the market, which are useful in our daily life. And I also include some of the online market places where you can get good price and awesome customer service for your purchase.
Feel free to visit those online store, especially Amazon and eBay when you find the products I recommend is useful to you.
Among the three big technology companies which formed the SD association, SanDisk remain focus on the memory cards technology and continue to progress and introduce newer products into the market. It is my favorite brand whenever I want to get another memory card for my MP3 players or devices. You will never get wrong buying this brand.
Happy shopping and enjoy the products you bought.
I never knew that MP3 players had a memory card. I never got to have one when they were a “thing”. I do think I could use these memory cards for other things – cameras & laptops. We are all visual humans & memory cards are great for us to capture our memories that will last forever. The only thing is once you take it out of the device, it can get lost so easily. Do you know where you could store the memory cards where they wouldn’t get lost?
Yes, we love to have memory with us and many of us like to take photos wherever we go.
Other than MP3 players, other devices need extra memory card to store our important events and memories too. With prices getting more affordable, we can get more storage space with good buy at Amazon and ebay.
To prevent the loss of your SD card, you can consider to get the memory card case holder with a string to attach for security. Here is one I found on Amazon, YOUKaDa Water-Resistant memory card case holder storage with Carabiner for 8 SD cards and 8 Micro SD cards.
I’m not really use a mp3 player but I really need to have external storage for my Samsung J6. And, I need the best and high quality microSD card since long ago, when I use cheap one, it’s broke too easy. All my data has been erased. So, now I’m using 32gb Samsung microSD. Maybe I’ll upgrade to 64gb pretty soon. So far, I’m quite satisfy with Samsung microSD. It’s compatible with my Samsung J6. Anyway, great article and to all reader here, GET THE ORIGINAL ONE!
I agree with you that getting the best and good quality microSD card to store your important data. It can be very frustrating when all your essential information disappeared due to faculty memory card.
Samsung is also a good brand and it has many good products. I got my daughter a Samsung phone and my home uses Samsung washing machine.
You too can get the Samsung microSD card at Amazon with good price. I found one promotion of Samsung 128GB 100MB/s (U3) microSD EVO select memory card with adapter.
Hi there,
I just read your article about Hot Electronics Products In Market. As i love electronics and gadgets i found your article like my kind of thing. You mention everything that is commonly used now a days like memory cards , mp3 players, all about there specifications and different companies, there storage , everything is nicely explained. Yo have also provided some links from where we can buy original stuff
thanks
Most of the MP3 player’s makers would like to make their products competitive, and one of the strategies is reducing their internal memory storage size in the player. Thus, they offer external storage capability allowing you to add on extra memory card. This is the reason most MP3 players need memory card.
SanDisk SD card is best suited to store your music on the memory card and you can purchase different capacity at Amazon or eBay online store. I personally consider SanDisk memory card as the best in the market currently.
Class 10 memory card is better than class 4 and it will cost more normally when you do your purchase.
Hope you enjoy your favorite musics on your MP3 player and bring along external memory card to store additional music when you come across new song you like.
Amazing job breaking explaining the memory card landscape. I’m always at a loss when I need to pick one out. It’s tough to get help in store to pick out the right one for your needs.
Your grid on usage and purpose is invaluable. I’ve book marked your page so I can get the right cards the next time I’m shopping for some.
What’s the difference between a Memory stick and a flash drive? I’ve heard that they are the same except that Memory sticks only work with Sony devices….is that true?
Thanks again for a great tutorial!
Hi Tim,
Thank you for the comment. I am happy you found my article useful for you to choose a good memory card.
When you talk about memory stick, it refers to Sony memory card. It is Sony proprietary format and you may read more about Sony Memory Stick information at Wikipedia.
Sony introduced this product when there were competition in the market among various makers many years ago. However, with SD card getting popular and has since won the battle, Sony has decided to follow the SD format in its memory card product lineup.
Amazon do sell Sony memory stick on its online store, and ebay too has various Sony card for your selection.
I remember when I bought my very first MP3 Player. It only held 20 to 30 songs which meant I had to keep deleting songs if I wanted to add new ones. It was so frustrating lol.
But today, MP3s have come so far and I can’t believe the amount of storage space memory cards have!
I do like the fact that memory cards seem reasonably priced too, which means you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg for some decent music storage space.
However, even after all these years, I’m still not up to date with the lastest and greatest technology. So in addition to music and video use, are memory cards great for some smartphones and digital cameras when it comes to taking photos too or are they not needed since Apps exist for storing photos?
Cheers, Neil
Hi Neil,
Thanks for the comment.
Technology continue to evolve therefore the newer MP3 players have so much features and performance than its predecessor. You can store more songs on all the music players nowadays.
For smartphone and digital camera, the application is likely to be video in nature. Therefore, you ought to choose the highest speed and greater capacity of the SD card when you make purchase.
Although cloud-based storage is becoming common in these days, having additional backup onto a portable SD card serve you well and allow you to transfer easily without any internet connection.
Thank you for your solid informations. I thought SD cards are outdated and technology is moving toward built-in memories. I didn’t know that the new generation of SD cards (SDXC) has a capacity of up to 2 TB. The rapid technology advancement excites me.
However, for my mp3 player the old 32GB SD card is still enough. Do you know which devices are now supporting high capacity SD cards?
Hi Albert,
Use of memory chips in any device will cause the manufacturers money, therefore most of them tends to cap their built-in memory at certain storage size in order to price their product competitively.
With 3D application rising year after year, the adoption of SDXC card is likely to move into main stream the coming years. We will see more new applications on board and our life style may change progressively.
SDXC uses different file system named as exFAT and it is based on SDA 3.0 specifications. To ensure that the card and its host device work well, you need to look for the SDXC logo on the card and host device.
You may refer more information at the website of SD Association.
Hi there,
I have to say that this article contains really helpful information! I never understood (until now) why SD cards with the same amount of storage have completely different prices. Well, now (thanks to you) I know.. it’s not only the memory that counts but the transfer speed as well. I can say for sure that the next time I need an SD card I will definitely know what and from where should I buy.
One big THANK YOU!
Nick.
Hi Nick,
I am glad that my article provide guidance to you in choosing which SD card to use.
If the transfer speed is too slow, it may take you more times in retrieving the data stored on the card. When the data recorded is video, the delayed is even more obvious.
I used to carry many USB flash drives with different applications on each device, but not anymore. Nowadays, I store all the data on one single SD card and it simplify my job so much easy and efficient.
Don’t forget to visit my recommendation and check them out at Amazon and ebay marketplaces. Both offer very attractive pricing and various memory sizes for your consideration.
Thank you! I often use SD cards, and there is a lot of difference in quality, memory, and price, often depending in which shop you are buying too. The Amazon prices look good. Great video which break things down into understandable pieces, good to know that for a music application on an MP3 player a class 2 is sufficient. It is very useful to buy a card reader at the same time, you can easily connect such a device to your laptop and read all your memory cards. Easy when you’ve mixed a few.
Thank you for the Titanic “Song” on your About Us:) I have enjoyed it!
Loes
Hi Loes,
Glad that you love the Titanic song. I love it too as the movie was very romantic and full of passion for young couple when they are in love. It will be great to put that song onto the MP3 Player and carry along.
You are right to say there are many different types of memory cards on the market. Depending on your application, we do not need to buy the most expensive and sophisticated type, just the right one is good enough. Easy for your pocket and also meet your need.
Amazon always has good promotion and many deals can be found on its marketplace or online store. You can also purchase the card reader on Amazon. There are various options for you to select.
Here is one of them, Anker 8-in-1 USB 3.0 Portable Card reader
I’ve been on the lookout for a way to boost my Mp3 player’s memory for quite some time now, I use it for running every morning and I’m a bit sick of the albums on there!
To be honest with you, I’m only looking for a few Gb more really – do you think the quality of the 16GB microSD card Class 4 options is good enough? For just over $6 it’s perfect for me if it will last.
Hi Chris,
microSD card with Class 4 + 16GB storage capacity will allow you to store your favorite music on the memory card. This is sufficient for application like this type and you have more space to get your music on it.
As the price of memory chip drop further, you will be able to get more byte on the card. More memory give you more option to store your favorite album.
Thank you for giving your comment on my site.
I just purchased a new mp3 player which needs a memory card but the seller on ebay (who I contacted) does not have an instruction manual for the device which only states on the front that it is a digital mp4 player/zy. As you mentioned:
Before buying the memory card, decide how much storage you need, the speed you want and whether the memory card is compatible with your MP3 player (you may refer to the user manual). If the MP3 player is backward compatible, it should able to read older format of memory card.
I don’t know which memory card to buy and I don’t know whether its backward compatible? (I don’t know what backward compatible means)
But anyway, I was thinking of buying a 64 gb TF card Class 10 and I have not seen any class 2 cards as of yet. I only intend to record music at the least off the built in FM radio or from a cd in my laptop.
Hope you can answer my quetions.
Wh
Hi Mark,
Glad to receive your query.
Backward compatible means the MP3 player can read older format of memory card. However, as technology changes super fast nowaday, the newer MP3 player may not cater to all the old format of memeory card. Therefore, it is prudent to transfer your data often from the old device to the newer one, once a new technology is being introduced in the market.
It is pity that older generation will have a hard times to keep up with the new technology and need to re-learn constantly.
Class 2 is consider rather slow speed with modern time therefore you may not see it in the market anymore.
Your decision to get a 64GB memory card with class 10 should be sufficient to record your music. Big brands like SanDisk, Toshiba, Kingston are good to consider.
Hope you enjoy your music often while out from home with your lovely portable device onhand.
Best regards.
Thanks a lot for this helpful article. I learned a lot about different memory cards. As I travel often, I like to have my music recorded on an MP3 player. So I need a good memory card. I’ll look it up on Amazon because I’m one of those people who likes to shop online.
Wonderful. Nowaday it is so much easy and convenient to shop online.
There are thousands of products you can view and select online, just relax on your sofa and choose the right most suitable to your needs. The price of memory cards have come down alot and the memory size has increased a lot since the technology came on board.
microSD cards are the most available card in the market and you will find plenti of different brands in Amazon store. Check it out and give yourself a good treat.
Lastly, enjoy your favorite songs on your MP3 player while you are running or on the way to work.
Many thanks to you for sharing such an excellent article with us .When I used a phone before, my phone had very low phone memory then I had to use the memory card especially for mp3 player.And since then I started using the memory card on my phone and now I have purchased a new phone where I do not need a memory card, I still use the memory card.I use my memory card at Toshiba Company.And it’s a very good company and I’ve been using it for a long time and I haven’t had any issues and my device is still up and running.
Hi Shariful Islam,
Toshiba used to produce many memory products in Japan and the last I know their flash memory is very competitive in the market. But with advancement and competition, Toshiba is out of the game now.
I would suggest you consider SanDisk or Samsung when you want to get your memory card. Both of them have long term planning for their product line up and you will be getting support long term for your memory card.
Thanks for sharing a very important article with us.
I have been trying for a few days to buy memory for my mp3 player. but there are many types of memory cards in the market and Amazon. I am confused about which one is perfect for my mp3 player. but thanks to you, your article remove my confusion and help me to find out the perfect memory card for my mp3 player. Thank you so much for an excellent discussion about the Memory card. It really helps me a lot. After reading your article I have learned many new things about Memory cards. You have highlighted all the points of the Memory card that will help us a lot. You really wrote a very useful article for us. Thank you so much
You are most welcome and I am pleased to help you in selecting the suitable card for your needs.
I have been involved in memory products for many years, since 1997. During that time, memory chips are expensive and most memory cards are used in corporate. Consumers like us cannot afford to purchase it, not even thinking about getting online as there is no internet connection.
The world has changed so much since then. Memory cards come with different platform and various format. We now have so many options to choose. I wish this article help you in understanding the memory card product features and allows you to choose the right one for your usage.
Hi there, thank you for writing this informative and useful article. From your article, I can understand the function, the types, the pricing and the different brands of memory cards that best suits for the MP3 player. The microSD card is the most ideal type of memory card due to the size of the MP3 player. I can download the songs depends on the storage size I’ve got with the memory card. It is great that the memory card can be removed and transferred the file to the other devices so that I can listen to the music not only on MP3 player. Thanks for your post!
Hi Miki,
Glad that you are using microSD card to store your favorite songs on it and bring along your MP3 player to wherever you like. Music give us good feeling, especially when we are in bad mood and nice songs can really bring us up.
SanDisk and Samsung have very good selection of microSD cards in their product family. Do check it up at Amazon store and fill your heart with beautiful songs you love.
Many thanks to you for sharing such a beautiful article with us and I get the opportunity to discuss a wonderful topic through your article. The modern-day information technology has become very modern and we can no longer afford the technology with which we could use it five years ago. Three years ago, I could save a lot of songs with a 4GB memory card. But now it is not possible. The size of the memory card in the current market is 16GB 32GB 38GB etc. The current song and video memory size is all the better and much better than before. So we should use the advanced memory card and I am currently using the Sandisk memory card .I think your article very useful articles and I would like to share article on my social media.
Hi Shanta Rahman,
You are right. 4GB memory card is not available in the market as technology make advancement and company improve their product features.
Although we have cloud to store our songs but when there is no internent connection we will not be able to access those songs. Memory card allow you to access your favorite songs anytime and anywhere, without any concern of the internet availability.
SanDisk has many product categories of memory for you to select, depending on your needs. Feel free to visit their website often and subscrbite to their product news. You will get notice when there is new product available.
Hello, I really want to first appreciate your effort in putting this website together and writing this article. I did not know much about memory card for mp3 player. I think from your review, SD card with SDXC is the best one that I have to purchase and ho it will help me to store my files. Can I order multiple orders at one time?
Hi Shimba,
Yes, you can order as many cards you wish. For me, I like to store different products in different memory cards. This allows me to categorize them with different needs and also easy for me to identify when you need them.
The price of memory cards have came down quite a lot and most of us can afford to buy few cards at one go.
Thank you for dropping by at my blog and I wish you get your favorite memory cards in sooner time.
Hello there,
It’s amazing to note that even on as small items as memory cards/sticks, we must consider many aspects, not just the memory space and product price.
I found a lot of new information from this article, which is very helpful not only for me but to many, especially those who are not tech savvy.
Previously, I would only consider the capacity and the price, but thanks for posting this very informative article, I’ll have this as my guide when I buy my next memory card. From the knowledge I gained from this post, I can be able to assist other people.
God bless you more,
Chuna
Hi Chuna,
Glad that you find my article useful and will use it in your research for the next purchase. With many smart devices on the market and people loving video taking nowaday, memory capacity has become much larger. It is important that you choose the right type and higher speed. This will allow the video to capture and record in higher quality.
Wish you continue to gather new information regarding the memory card technology. With advancement, new type and new way of capturing and storing our memory will evolve in the years ahead.
Thank you for dropping by at my site and give us your valuable comment.
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Truly loads of beneficial advice.
Glad that you find the article useful!