PRS-950: Does SD card speed matter?

[gardenstate]

I recently sold my PRS-505 to save $$$ for a new 950. In anticipation of getting this unit, I also bought a 4GB SD card at a very good price from buy.com http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/1041461/.

The Kingston HCSD card is rated as CLASS 6 - Minimum of 6 MB/s performance

Does anybody know if SD CARD read/write speed matters with this and other ereaders? thanks.

[varmemester]

Originally Posted by Mike_73

After tinkering with different memory cards in my Camera I tried the same thing with the reader. I had some cheap standard SD-cards and some Ultra II SD-Cards form Sandisk.
In my opinion, page turning times got a little quicker by using faster cards. I then tried an Ultra II Memory-Stick and again had the feeling that it was a little quicker than the SD-Card. Probably because Memory-Stick system is from Sony, so they can probably implement the hardware better.

I found this in the Tips and Tricks sticky thread. Maybe someone can elaborate on the subject.

[varmemester]

I found this in the 950 manual:

You can use the following memory cards with the Reader:
Memory Stick DuoTM media
Memory Stick DuoTM
Memory Stick PRO DuoTM
Memory Stick PRO-HG DuoTM
Memory Stick MicroTM
SD Card
SD Card SDHC Card

Notes:
Sony’s Memory Stick DuoTM media of up to 32 GB has been tested to work with the Reader. But the proper operation on all types of the Memory Stick DuoTM media is not guaranteed.

SD card of up to 32 GB has been tested to work with the Reader; however, not all SD cards are guaranteed to work.

The M2TM Duo-size adapter must be attached to use Memory Stick MicroTM media in a slot for Memory Stick DuoTM media.

The file system incorporated in the Memory StickTM limits the capacity of a file to be transferred to less than 4GB.

Data over 123MB cannot be recorded in a single session.

Standard-size Memory StickTM media cannot be used on this product

The maximum number of songs that can be recorded in the Memory Stick PROTM media is 65535.

So it doesn't seem like sony is suggesting any specific SD cards. And it doesn't say anything about speed differences. On a side note; whats the difference between Memory Stick duo (only created by Sony) and SD cards?

[elcreative]

Price for starters... the Sony usually costs more for same amount of storage...

Originally Posted by varmemester

On a side note; whats the difference between Memory Stick duo (only created by Sony) and SD cards?

[Richey79]

Class 6 is a very good speed, and the best compromise price/speed in my opinion.

You could go for class 10, but the prices go up considerably, and let's just say that class 6 is more than fast enough to handle recording HD video in a camera, so is perfectly adequate for an ereader.

I've briefly tried a class 2 in my PRS600. To be honest, In comparison with the class 6 I'm using at the moment, I can't really say I noticed any difference at all.

Memory Stick duo is the exact same product, but a different shape: you'll never be able to use it with a non-Sony device and you'd be rewarding them for a bizarre and unnecessary corporate money-grab.

[elcreative]

Pretty much the same experience though I've also some Class 4 which seem to work fine and also some smaller (128MB - 2GB) without class numbers. I use the 128MB for PRS+ installation and pretty much stick with the 8-16GB for books... and couldn't agree more with the Sony Memory stick comment...

Originally Posted by Richey79

Class 6 is a very good speed, and the best compromise price/speed in my opinion.

You could go for class 10, but the prices go up considerably, and let's just say that class 6 is more than fast enough to handle recording HD video in a camera, so is perfectly adequate for an ereader.

I've briefly tried a class 2 in my PRS600. To be honest, In comparison with the class 6 I'm using at the moment, I can't really say I noticed any difference at all.

Memory Stick duo is the exact same product, but a different shape: you'll never be able to use it with a non-Sony device and you'd be rewarding them for a bizarre and unnecessary corporate money-grab.