No gapless on External Memory?

[uglor808]

Hi folks,

Is it just my J3 or does external memory not support gapless playback? I have no problems playing these same files when stored on internal memory. I have a sandisk 16gig class 2 microsd card.

[CrowdAds]

[dfkt]

I'm having all my music on the SD card (exact same card as yours), none on internal memory, and gapless works perfectly fine.

Maybe format the card properly with the official SDcard.org formatter, and try again. Back up your data before you format, of course.

[The DarkSide]

Is the OP using LAME, or another codec? LAME is gapless, zing (as in iTunes) isn't on the J3 AFAIK.

[dfkt]

He said they work when played from the internal memory.

iTunes uses the official FHG/Thomson codec, not Xing.

[uglor808]

yes, the files i'm referring to were ripped using LAME. But even the songs i ripped with itunes (when i had a nano a few years ago) can be played gaplessly on internal memory. i only have problems when playing songs from my external memory card. anyway, i'll try to format using the SDformatter to see if it helps.

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

Is the OP using LAME, or another codec? LAME is gapless, zing (as in iTunes) isn't on the J3 AFAIK.

[selectortone]

I've recently bought a J3 and gapless is working fine on the microSD card I was previously using in my Clip+. The tracks are 320bps mp3s encoded with LAME.

I was listening to a Thin Lizzy live album just this morning so I can definitely confirm this - no gaps in the audience clapping between tracks. Dark Side Of The Moon plays seamlessly too.

The card is a Class2 SanDisk 16GB microSDHC.

[uglor808]

did a full format sdformatter. most of the gapless tracks i put on works, but there are a few tracks that don't. i'll try to re rip them. as a side note, i sometimes have problems playing videos on the sd card too. sometimes i play a video, and after a while, the video will slow down and get really choppy. the buttons and touch controls become unresponsive and i have to reset the player. sometimes the videos work, and sometimes that same video doesn't. however, these same videos work flawlessly from internal memory.

[dfkt]

What's the codec and bitrate of those videos? You can find that out with Mediainfo.

[deadohiosky]

Originally Posted by uglor808

did a full format sdformatter. most of the gapless tracks i put on works, but there are a few tracks that don't. i'll try to re rip them. as a side note, i sometimes have problems playing videos on the sd card too. sometimes i play a video, and after a while, the video will slow down and get really choppy. the buttons and touch controls become unresponsive and i have to reset the player. sometimes the videos work, and sometimes that same video doesn't. however, these same videos work flawlessly from internal memory.

the video problem could be due to the internal "card reader" being able to only transfer at a limited bandwidth/bit rate and that's why it can't cache enough of the video data and it gets choppy. the flash memory is faster and has no such problem.

[uglor808]

i convert tv shows from my hauppauge PVR using the Jetaudio cowon media center with the default Cowon 02/s9/j3 output: AVI(Xvid+mp3); 368x272; 552kbps bitrate; 29fps; 128kbps mp3.

Originally Posted by dfkt

What's the codec and bitrate of those videos? You can find that out with Mediainfo.

[dfkt]

That's weird, that's well within supported specs. Sorry, I'm out of ideas.

Well, one more idea: you could try converting them with this tutorial, those files work perfectly fine for me and everybody else (and I don't trust Jetaudio): http://anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56633

[Urne]

As far as I understood, the higher class the higher speed on the flash cards (at least that goes for Kingston). That could explain why the videos gets choppy and the music isn't gapless.

[dfkt]

The speed of the SD card doesn't matter at all when it's inside the J3. The J3's SD controller is way slower than even the slowest card. It only matters in a dedicated external hi-speed card reader.

My Sandisk Class 2 16GB SDHC card gets about 12Mbps write speeds in my quality Hama reader, but only about 4Mbps in my J3.

[Urne]

Oh, I see. You learn something new each day, heh!

[selectortone]

Originally Posted by selectortone

I've recently bought a J3 and gapless is working fine on the microSD card I was previously using in my Clip+. The tracks are 320bps mp3s encoded with LAME.

I was listening to a Thin Lizzy live album just this morning so I can definitely confirm this - no gaps in the audience clapping between tracks. Dark Side Of The Moon plays seamlessly too.

The card is a Class2 SanDisk 16GB microSDHC.

You know, there IS a very slight discontinuity when playing some albums from my SD card - 'Dark Side Of the Moon' for example (despite what I wrote above!). It's much better than my D2+, but it's still there.

Of course, the simple fix is to move albums that need gapless to the internal memory where gapless really IS gapless

[CJ666]

Originally Posted by dfkt

The speed of the SD card doesn't matter at all when it's inside the J3. The J3's SD controller is way slower than even the slowest card. It only matters in a dedicated external hi-speed card reader.

My Sandisk Class 2 16GB SDHC card gets about 12Mbps write speeds in my quality Hama reader, but only about 4Mbps in my J3.

Hi Dfkt, Regarding to the battery life with your J3, have you noticed some drain difference when listening from the sd memory, i mean, the battery last less than using the internal memory? that is a big deal for me as to buying a cowon with more memory. Thanks

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by selectortone

You know, there IS a very slight discontinuity when playing some albums from my SD card - 'Dark Side Of the Moon' for example (despite what I wrote above!). It's much better than my D2+, but it's still there.

Of course, the simple fix is to move albums that need gapless to the internal memory where gapless really IS gapless

I listened carefully, and gapless works 100% for me, from external memory.

Originally Posted by CJ666

Hi Dfkt, Regarding to the battery life with your J3, have you noticed some drain difference when listening from the sd memory, i mean, the battery last less than using the internal memory? that is a big deal for me as to buying a cowon with more memory. Thanks

The battery lasts so long, to me it seems the additional power draw from the SD slot is negligible. I couldn't tell you if there would be a noticeable difference by just using internal memory since I always get over 40 hours (at least) from a full charge, which is more than enough for my needs.

[selectortone]

Originally Posted by selectortone

You know, there IS a very slight discontinuity when playing some albums from my SD card - 'Dark Side Of the Moon' for example (despite what I wrote above!). It's much better than my D2+, but it's still there.

Of course, the simple fix is to move albums that need gapless to the internal memory where gapless really IS gapless

Hope it's OK to resurrect this old thread (...and to quote myself!).

I've cured the problem I was having with gapless on external memory - I received a 32GB class2 Sandisk card today and before I loaded any music on it I used the SD Association Formatter to format it.

True gapless is a big deal for me as I listen to a lot of live recordings and the dip in audience noise between tracks is distracting. And of course you have to listen to a lot of Pink Floyd gapless!

I'm happy to report that this has fixed the problem.

Just another of the many useful things I've learned from this forum - thanks again!

[zyzzy78]

Thanks for the tip, selectortone. I reformatted my microSD card today after hearing blips in the transitions on my rip of Frank Zappa's Make a Jazz Noise Here, and it's worked so far through several tracks! I realize it's been a few months since it was posted, but I think this is worth the thumbs-up bump.