why can't the reader address more than 2GB?

[athlonkmf]

My 4GB transcend SD-card just arrived and I've tested it. The reader is indeed not capable of addressing more than 2GB.
Too bad, i'll just use the sd-card for my camera then. No need to take a laptop with me then

but i'm wondering what limits the reader to address more than 2GB. The reader supports FAT32, so no problem there. There is plenty of ram. So is it a software limitation? would a firmware update correct this? anyone know?

Does anyone know if it can address 4Gb on a memorystick? according to the esupport site, it does support 4GB memory sticks http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...,30&mdl=PRS500

[JSWolf]

The Reader does address 4gig of ram. You just need to have that 4gig in the form of some flavor or memory-stick. SD ram is only 2gig accessible. So if you want to have 4gig, get the required flavor of memory-stick and you'll have an additional 4gig.

[athlonkmf]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The Reader does address 4gig of ram. You just need to have that 4gig in the form of some flavor or memory-stick. SD ram is only 2gig accessible. So if you want to have 4gig, get the required flavor of memory-stick and you'll have an additional 4gig.

Unfortunately, i'm getting mixed results from my searches. Especially this post: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...9&postcount=21
which says that the memory stick suffers from the same problem.

and this thread isn't giving me much hope either: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10479

Yet, sony says that the 4 and 8GB sticks are supported here http://esupport.sony.com/EN/info/mspro-reader.html

Nonetheless, i just ordered a 4GB Sony stick to test it out myself or I won't be satisfied and I just closed a nice deal at work so I deserved a litle treat anyway. If it doesn't work... well, at least my PSP can use it or I can make a LOOOOOOOT of snapshots with my Sony-Ericsson phone. 8GB is a bit too pricey to test

[JSWolf]

Please let us know how it works out. According to the chart you need an adapter for the Memory Stick Pro Duo. Did you order one with the memory?

[athlonkmf]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Please let us know how it works out. According to the chart you need an adapter for the Memory Stick Pro Duo. Did you order one with the memory?

I already have 2 adapters because I have a Sony phone and a PSP too But usually they come with the stick. We'll see if sony has gone cheaper.

[johnbrisbin]

This may be old news or simply a support pacifier, but when I just asked a Sony telephone support person about this, he told me that the next software/firmware update due in mid July (07, I hope) would address some memory stick issues.

He was, understandably, unable to guarantee that this fix would be included.

When asked explicitly, he was unable to suggest any memory stick device from any manufacturer including Sony that could access more than 2GB in the Sony Reader, implying that the problem is not unknown and not manufacturer specific.

I am satisfied, at least for now. to wait for the update.

BTW, the usual reason that things fail at 2GB is because someone used a signed 32-bit number where they should have used an unsigned one. The reason that things fail at 4GB is that someone used a 32-bit number when they should have used a 64 (or at least 48) bit one.

Every OS has had these problems (particularly when there were no >2GB or >4GB devices to test with at the time the code was written and tested) but it is harder to justify the problem when the devices were available as of the last update and compatibility was claimed.

That is just a QA screwup.

[sfernald]

I use a 4GB memory card on my reader and it works just fine, although holding that many books really does make the reader slow sometimes.

You have to get the non-SDHC 4GB cards.

Mine is a Patriot EP 4GB SD card.

[athlonkmf]

Originally Posted by sfernald

I use a 4GB memory card on my reader and it works just fine, although holding that many books really does make the reader slow sometimes.

You have to get the non-SDHC 4GB cards.

Mine is a Patriot EP 4GB SD card.

have you actually filled the card up till over 2gb. That's almost impossible to do with normal books only. I'm using large manga-files so it can be filled up quickly

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sfernald

I use a 4GB memory card on my reader and it works just fine, although holding that many books really does make the reader slow sometimes.

You have to get the non-SDHC 4GB cards.

Mine is a Patriot EP 4GB SD card.

We know that 4GB cards work; the issue is that people have found that the Reader won't address more than 2GB of data on the card.

Try filling up your card with (say) MP3 files, and see if they all show up on the Reader; I suspect you'll find that they won't.

[dhbailey]

I certainly hope they resolve that 4GB problem -- that will be wonderful!

And mid-July (assuming they meant 2007) is not that far away! It will be very interesting to see if the firmware includes those new Adobe features which should open the marketplace for more copyrighted books from different sources as opposed to being limited to BeBB format which is only available from the Connect store.

I won't hold my breath, but such an announcement is every encouraging!

[jsuplido]

Originally Posted by HarryT

We know that 4GB cards work; the issue is that people have found that the Reader won't address more than 2GB of data on the card.

Try filling up your card with (say) MP3 files, and see if they all show up on the Reader; I suspect you'll find that they won't.

That's exactly what I have. I have a 4GB Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo (with an adapter). I have an AUDIO folder (2.39 GB) with 250 songs. All showed up and played well.

I love how those unprotected MP3 songs from iTunes show album art.

[HarryT]

That's good to hear; experiments have shown that although the Reader works with 4GB SD cards, it won't address >2GB data on them. I guess a Memory Stick is the answer for folks who want lots of data!

[athlonkmf]

if everything goes well, i'll receive my Sony 4GB MS-stick tomorrow and we'll know for sure that at least Sony sticks should work, as the author of the other topic had a 4GB Sandisk stick which doesn't work.
(strange enough, the Sony stick was cheaper than the Sandisk for me)

I fill it up with LRF-files btw (big ones, over 100MB each)

[mogui]

Originally Posted by dhbailey

I certainly hope they resolve that 4GB problem -- that will be wonderful!

Someone here has stated that the Sony Memory Sticks work OK at 4G. The SD cards won't. The Reader specs them at 2G max. The new revised standard for SD specs SD at 2G max. Some manufacturers extended SD to 4G, but did so in ways that were incompatible with each other. See the wikipedia article on SD cards. There has been a lot of discussion before on this topic in this forum. Also, there is a wiki page on this topic of SD card compatibility for the Reader. Some of the 4G cards there are incorrectly stated as working. If you find hard data on this topic you can edit the page.

I have a Chinese Kingston 4G knock-off that works fine in a card reader (also Chinese) that was touted as supporting 4G SD cards. It works OK when in the card reader, but fails the fill test. The Connect software also fails when connected to a Reader with a full 4G SD card.

After using various SD cards for a while, I took them out of my Reader completely. I have 65 books on my Reader now and the memory is only about half full! There is a suggestion here that SD cards drain the battery a little more quickly, and besides, more books can make the selection menu in the Reader uncomfortably long. You may feel differently.

Newer eReaders that come on the market may conform to the SDHD standard. SDHD will provide 4G of storage and up, plus it is backward compatible with your present SD cards.

[RWood]

Originally Posted by dhbailey

I certainly hope they resolve that 4GB problem -- that will be wonderful!

And mid-July (assuming they meant 2007) is not that far away! It will be very interesting to see if the firmware includes those new Adobe features which should open the marketplace for more copyrighted books from different sources as opposed to being limited to BeBB format which is only available from the Connect store.

I won't hold my breath, but such an announcement is every encouraging!

Adobe has stated on their web site in the FAQs for the new Digital Editions that the Linux version should be ready for beta testing late in 2007 so to include it in a July update would seem to be a lot optimistic. I would expect memory card corrections, the battery indicator fix, better Vista integration, and maybe am OSX and Linux version. Nothing earthshattering.