32gb SDHC with new Cowon D2

[potheadpixie]

Hi,

Just ordered a 16gb D2 after hours of research (you guys were convincing) and with it I ordered a 32 SDHC class 4 card. However reading the threads I am unsure this card will work. Is there anyone out there who successfully uses a 32 gb card or do i need to cancel and reorder a 16gb?

Thanks

Nick

[CrowdAds]

[The DarkSide]

There are quite a few who've used 32gb sdhc cards w/the D2. There should be no problems at all.

[potheadpixie]

Thanks for your promt reply Darkside. Whilst I'm here can you tell me the best way to import music onto the D2 - with sq being the priority. I've only ever used Itunes before!!

[The DarkSide]

Uh oh, uh, this is a touchy sub here on ABI, as 95% of the population loves drag and drop.

I personally use J.River Media Jukebox, as it's perfect for me, and sees the sd card as well as the main memory on the D2. There are other alternatives as well, such as Media Monkey, WinAmp, Songbird, etc. Any of these should be excellent for you to try.

Do a download.com search for these programs and see which is best for your needs, since there really is no "one size fits all" software solution.

[grantedman]

Originally Posted by potheadpixie

Thanks for your promt reply Darkside. Whilst I'm here can you tell me the best way to import music onto the D2 - with sq being the priority. I've only ever used Itunes before!!

If sound quality is the biggest priority, then *how* you import isn't as important as the bitrate / format you use. If your music is already in a lossy format, just use them as-is. If you're going from FLAC or some other lossless source, use either OGG (Vorbis) or MP3 (I don't think AAC is supported, which is a shame since it's a really nice format).

[potheadpixie]

OK at the moment I'm getting my head around Media Jukebox and ripping CD's using OGG on the high setting - feels like a good system, just hope it tags the album art. Transfer bitrates are 450 - 550. I'll transfer my music when my Cowon arrives tomorrow :-)).

Nothing like being prepared................

Thank you both for your advice

[grantedman]

You might consider ripping to FLAC, and then converting FLAC->mp3 or Vorbis. This allows you to quickly re-encode your collection to a new format (although it consumes lots of hard drive space --- you would keep the FLACs on the hard drive, vorbis/mp3 on the device).

FYI, 500kbps bitrates are insanely high. If you're going that high, you may as well use FLAC (which should average around 700-900 kbps but allows you to re-encode without introducing any artifacts). Unless your music collection is really small, you probably want to rip around '-q 5' or '-q 6' for Vorbis (I think that's ~160kbps-192kbps). If you're really paranoid then you can go to '-q 7' for ~224kbps encoding. But I seriously doubt even audiophiles on awesome equipment can hear a difference beyond '-q 6'.

[dj_si]

FWIW, I'm using a SanDisk Ultra II 32Gb SDHC in my new D2+ and it seems fine.

For ripping I'm using Exact Audio Copy to rip to FLAC, then oggenc2 to produce OGGs (at q7) to put on the D2+. SQ is great as far as I'm concerned (though perhaps q6 or even q5 would suffice).

[hyper_noodle]

I actually have a question regarding the SD card expansion of the D2. I currently have a 30Gb ZV:M and the screen's been busted for a while so I'm looking for a replacement, but need something with more storage now. In reading all the reviews, the 16Gb D2+ with a 32GB SDHC card sounds like an awesome possibility.

I just have one question about the experience on the player though (I couldn't find anything on this in the review). When you use the player, does it actually integrate all the songs from both the internal and SDHC memory into one list? Or does it utilize them as two separate sources, requiring you to juggle your listening back and forth between on-board and external memory? How about when playing back music in random order? Does it still choose from both sources seemlessly?

Thanks for any help and advice!

[dj_si]

In my experience so far with this set up (i.e. 16Gb D2+ with 32Gb SDHC card), it's totally seemless. Whether you browse by Artist, Album, Track or Genre, it will seemlessly list all music across both internal memory and SDHC card, as if it were just one big bucket of memory.

The only time you need to specifically select one memory or the other is if you select Folder browsing mode - then you see the distinction between "D2" (internal memory) and "D2 EXT" (SDHC card). Folder browsing mode is similar to using Windows Explorer to browse folders on different drives, e.g. C: and D:

I've had this combination of D2+ and SDHC card going for only 8 days since they arrived in the post. My only complaints are horrendous support for playlists and lack of gapless playback. But that's down to Cowon to pull their finger out and do something about it, 'cos their customers have been asking for these 2 things to be fixed for years.

But apart from that, this player ROCKS!!

[hyper_noodle]

Cool. Thanks for replying, DJ. And yeah, gapless has always been the gripe for nearly every player. I used to have an M3 from Cowon and loved it, so I'm looking forward to moving back to them. With that extra little bit of information, the deal's pretty much cemented for me. Just need to figure out if Imma buy it in Korea (since I happen to be there at the moment) or just get it from a US seller. The package here is a little more, but comes with the wall adapter, screen protector, and some sort of case (as opposed to what I've seen in the US which only adds the "premium" headphones).

[dj_si]

I've seen the "official" Cowon leather case for the original D2, but I must say I'm not keen on the idea of having to open the cover all the time. Currently there don't appear to be any silicone cases that are guaranteed to fit properly on the D2+, so at the moment mine has no case, although I've left the clear plastic cover on the screen as a temporary screen protector.

I bought the wall adapter separately after my D2+ arrived and I realised it wasn't included - a bit cheap of Cowon I think! But I wanted the adapter since I don't want to be dependent on finding a USB port to charge up.

As for any packaged headphones, they're never going to sound great - my Cowon ones are still in the box, since I already had Bose IEs which I bought in NYC a couple of years ago - they may not be to everyone's liking, but I think they sound great.

Anyway, glad I could offer you some useful advice!

[Flamin_Spirit]

get a mains-to-usb adapter if you don't want to buy a specialized wall adapter, one came with my mom's Chocolate 3 phone and my Samsung digital camera as well. they're dead useful, just have the usb cord.

Rarely do playuers come with good 'phones without those 'phones driving up the player's price, I suggest you invest in some cheap good headphones or earbuds (I love my JVC Marshmallows, got em for like $15 on amazon) then upgrading later on, I've also noticed that the buds given with players are rarely comfortable, I even hate the higer-end phones that ship with the larger zunes just because they're uncomfortable. the Marshmallows are like earplugs commonly found in shooting ranges, except the music flows through them to your ears, and little to no outside noise

[dj_si]

Originally Posted by Flamin_Spirit

get a mains-to-usb adapter if you don't want to buy a specialized wall adapter

Good point, and it seems they're a lot cheaper than the official Cowon wall adapter. However, for complete flexibility, you'd need to check that any mains-to-usb adapter works on 100V-240V (as does the Cowon adapter).

Note also that the Cowon adapter connects to the "ext" socket on the D2+ and charges an empty battery in "about 3 hours" (according to the D2+ user manual), whereas charging via USB would take "about 5.5 hours". The slower charging time might bother you ...or it might not! Just something to keep in mind anyway.

[Flamin_Spirit]

since the battery life of the D2 can be called "epic" and will last more than 24 hours without a recharge I don't think the extra 2 hours of charge time would bother people. Mostly because one can plug it in overnight and get a full charge easy.

[dj_si]

Oh sure, like I said, the slower charge time via USB might bother people or might not. I just pointed it out so people can decide for themselves which they prefer.

[hyper_noodle]

OK, not sure if I missed something but from the response I got earlier, the integration is not as seamless as I had thought it was, at least for getting music on the player. No matter what method I try, it seems that the player's internal memory and the external card's memory are viewed separately. I even tried with JetAudio, but gave up after it kept wanting to rename my files before putting them on the player (what's up with that?!). After also failing to make this work with WMP, I ended up just dragging and dropping to the external memory since it happens to just barely fit all the music I have, but I was really hoping for something better than this. Does anyone have any suggestions for a file transfer method that TRULY makes it seamless (ie, there is no distinction between the internal and external memory- the method will just choose fill one up then the other, preferably internal memory first and then external)?

[dj_si]

Originally Posted by hyper_noodle

When you use the player, does it actually integrate all the songs from both the internal and SDHC memory into one list? Or does it utilize them as two separate sources, requiring you to juggle your listening back and forth between on-board and external memory? How about when playing back music in random order? Does it still choose from both sources seemlessly?

Hmm, from your previous posting it sounded as though you were referring just to playback. Apologies for any misunderstanding.

In terms of actually putting files onto the D2, I believe all media manager s/w regards the internal memory and the SD card as 2 separate devices ...but I stand to be corrected if anyone else knows different!

[hyper_noodle]

::sigh:: OK. Well, I have a different problem now too. I let it transfer the files overnight, and when I woke up, I noticed that some didn't make it (even though there was no error message or anything). So I went ahead and put those on the external card again, and I can see that they are on the card when I connect it to my computer, but they are not showing up when I browse through the music library after I disconnect the player. Any ideas for what's going on?

[hyper_noodle]

Never mind. I realized that my problem is I've reached the 4,000 file limit. This is REALLY depressing. I bought the player so I could have a really high capacity flash player, but that 4,000 file limit completely kills the ability to actually USE all 48Gb (or in my case, even just the 32 Gb on the external card). No one would happen to know a workaround for reaching the maximum file limit?

I emailed Cowon about it, and without a solution, I might have to return (or sell) the player. Just kills like half my reason for buying this particular player.