SD card + adapter + car

Richard

All-Pro
Location
Marlow, UK
Just changing cars for the first time in 16 years and I find that since my last purchase, in-car audio arrangements have moved on somewhat. I played CDs in my last car, but the next one comes with a built in MP3 player, with the files stored either on a full-sized SD card or a USB flash drive. I don't want to use the USB port as that'll be a handy place to charge the phone, so the SD card is a better option.

It turns out that the SD card slot on my laptop is of the micro-SD variety, so I'm either going to need an external card reader (possibly combined with a CD drive, since I dont have one of those either) which takes full sized SD cards, or I'll have to use a micro SD card and put it in an adapter when it's in the car.

Here's what the car manual says about adapters:

"Only use SD cards in standard size. When using smaller SD card with the adapter the SD memory card can fall out while driving the vehicle due to vibrations from the adapter."

Do we think that's true? I can't help feeling they're being ultra-cautious here. Incidentally, one day I will face the same issue when I come to update the maps on the sat-nav, which also live on a full-sized SD card.

The external CD drives I'm looking at which come with a built-in SD card reader don't mention whether they will also write files back to an SD card, so that's another question.

Any thoughts? (bring back compact cassette?)

-R
 
Bluetooth is the best system hands down. Phone remains in my pocket, I just enter my car and turn on the radio and the music/podcast continues from where I left. No hassling with the cables whatsoever.
 
There won't be any cables involved once I'm set up. I'll just copy a load of albums onto the SD card, plug it into the car and that should be that. It should be quite elegant once done.

(I haven't done the music on phone thing)

-R
 
Why not just use a full-size SD card ?

Sorry, I just read that your computer doesn't have a standard sized SD card slot.

I recently bought a standard sized SD card (that encompasses as micro-SD card) for the same reason (but in reverse). My computer has a standard-sized SD slot and my portable player has a micro slot.
 
I just wondered whether anyone had experience of those adapters and whether they really can vibrate loose in reality. I'm not planning on taking the car off road ...

Would you expect that a card reader built into an external CD reader / writer would necessarily write to the card as well? I just asked the same question on Amazon, and the reply came back "I don't see why not", which may be as far as I get with that enquiry.

Here's the really annoying part, my last laptop had both a CD drive and a full-size SD slot built-in.

-R
 
Richard, I'd say your hunch is right: They're being overly cautious. Most Micro SDs snap into their adapters firmly enough to never work themselves loose, period.

However, I'm with those who suggest getting an SD card reader in the first place - it's useful in itself no matter what; Micro SD cards, on the other hand, are just a nuisance (IMHO).

Also, I've yet to find an SD card reader that doesn't work at all - if a CD unit has one built in, it should work. But how well the CD part will work remains to be seen - I've had very varied experience in that regard.

M.
 
The external drives I'm looking at are only about £22 or £25 and they come with an SD card reader built-in. I think you pay about the same for a CD drive which doesn't have a card reader, so I might as well get both functions in one box. I'm starting to think that the "card reader" term is unfortunate, as many (all?) of them seem to support write too.

So, I think I'll probably just buy the most likely CD drive with a full-size card reader and thrash it to death with my collection of dodgy albums. If the SD card reader won't write to the card, Plan B will be to use the built-in micro SD slot in my laptop, and use an adapter in the car.

Or I might borrow my partner's external card reader, with its 3m of tangled cables and bulky power supply ...

-R
 
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