MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

dhbailey · 03-30-2007, 04:58 PM

I have found out several things, in trying to settle into the Reader this week:

1) there seems to be a limit to the number of MP3 files which the Reader can read from a memory card. I put 738 files on a 4GB SD card, and the Reader says 400 files next to Audio. Moving to the 400th song and then trying to move to the next song moves back to the first song, so there's obviously a 400 song limit.

2) the Reader plays the music sequentially, not a random order, which will get pretty monotonous after a while. Perhaps a future system update will include a random playback possibility. Or maybe I've just missed something but I don't think so.

3) I thought that perhaps the limit to 400 songs was because of the stated limit of 2GB on SD cards, compared to the stated limit of 4GB on Memory Sticks so I bought a 4GB memory stick and copied the MP3 files over to it and the Reader still only shows 400 songs.

4) I removed the extra 738 MP3 files which weren't being recognized, leaving 400 song files on the SD card. BUT, when I put the SD card in the Reader, it now shows that there are only 242 songs. Curious!

So it seems that the playback of MP3 files, which I knew from the start to be weak, is weaker than I had thought, and I am very curious as to why it is only showing a certain number of files.

I'm going to check and make sure that they all have the necessary data in the song name field of the MP3 files, to be sure I haven't messed up there.

I'll report back when/if I learn anything new.

If anybody has any ideas of why all this is happening, I'll be happy to read them!

The quality of the playback is just fine, it's only the file-system stuff I'm miffed about.

03-30-2007, 04:58 PM	#1
dhbailey Guru Posts: 604 Karma: 733 Join Date: Mar 2007 Device: HP iPAQ211 / PRS 500, 700 and 505	Limit to the number of MP3 files? I have found out several things, in trying to settle into the Reader this week: 1) there seems to be a limit to the number of MP3 files which the Reader can read from a memory card. I put 738 files on a 4GB SD card, and the Reader says 400 files next to Audio. Moving to the 400th song and then trying to move to the next song moves back to the first song, so there's obviously a 400 song limit. 2) the Reader plays the music sequentially, not a random order, which will get pretty monotonous after a while. Perhaps a future system update will include a random playback possibility. Or maybe I've just missed something but I don't think so. 3) I thought that perhaps the limit to 400 songs was because of the stated limit of 2GB on SD cards, compared to the stated limit of 4GB on Memory Sticks so I bought a 4GB memory stick and copied the MP3 files over to it and the Reader still only shows 400 songs. 4) I removed the extra 738 MP3 files which weren't being recognized, leaving 400 song files on the SD card. BUT, when I put the SD card in the Reader, it now shows that there are only 242 songs. Curious! So it seems that the playback of MP3 files, which I knew from the start to be weak, is weaker than I had thought, and I am very curious as to why it is only showing a certain number of files. I'm going to check and make sure that they all have the necessary data in the song name field of the MP3 files, to be sure I haven't messed up there. I'll report back when/if I learn anything new. If anybody has any ideas of why all this is happening, I'll be happy to read them! The quality of the playback is just fine, it's only the file-system stuff I'm miffed about.