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iPad 2 - SD Card Uses?

T

Tones2

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 8, 2009
1,471
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If the iPad 2 actually does get an SD card slot, does anybody think it could be used for actual storage of media (music, video) that can be played by the native iPod and Video players? Or will this just be for photos?

I'm thinking only the latter, since that was the limitation of the camera kit, but what do others think?
 
I think it will just be for photos at first.

Later I think they will extend its functionality in iOS 5.
 
I'm still dubious about the need for a permanent SD card slot. I've used the adapter about three times in the last 8 months...

Also, given the OS changes required if it was actually to allow for some general file access, would seem strange if this innovation is only present on iPad and not the rest of the iOS family - iPhone and Apple TV...
 
colmaclean said:
I'm still dubious about the need for a permanent SD card slot. I've used the adapter about three times in the last 8 months...
Click to expand...

Well, if it could be used for music and video storage, there would be a huge advantage of having it. Apple could keep the internal device max at 64 GB and users who need more than that (like me) would be able to get up to another 64 GB if they wanted.

But I think it's probably true that an iOS update would be needed, and I don't think anyone has seen anything related to this in the 4.3 beta.
 
Tones2 said:
Well, if it could be used for music and video storage, there would be a huge advantage of having it. Apple could keep the internal device max at 64 GB and users who need more than that (like me) would be able to get up to another 64 GB if they wanted.

But I think it's probably true that an iOS update would be needed, and I don't think anyone has seen anything related to this in the 4.3 beta.
Click to expand...

You can already access video files on a SD card or thumb drive with the CCK.

And you can always use the AirStash:

http://www.airstash.com/
 
Tones2 said:
Well, if it could be used for music and video storage, there would be a huge advantage of having it. Apple could keep the internal device max at 64 GB and users who need more than that (like me) would be able to get up to another 64 GB if they wanted.

But I think it's probably true that an iOS update would be needed, and I don't think anyone has seen anything related to this in the 4.3 beta.
Click to expand...

If I were to guess, I'd say that at first, it will provide no other functionality than the camera connection kit. Modifying the OS to permit file access by other apps strikes me as significant enough to warrant a full number change.

As for allowing you to use it as music storage, I find it hard to believe that Apple will allow us to divorce from iTunes to import music, but they've surprised us before.
 
poloponies said:
You can already access video files on a SD card or thumb drive with the CCK.
Click to expand...

I think he intended it for a quasi-permanent storage, which is a great idea.

The CCK sticks out like a sore thumb and could hardly be left engaged for long periods of time unless your iPad stayed stuck to your desk...but what's the point of that?
 
poloponies said:
You can already access video files on a SD card or thumb drive with the CCK.
Click to expand...

Is this true? Can the Video app stream video files directly from the SD card using the CCK? Everything that I've read said that it does not. Even copyig video to the iPad from the SD card seems to be flakey.

Tony
 
Last edited:
Tones2 said:
Is this true? Can the Video app stream video files directly from the SD card using the CCK?
Click to expand...

I may be a complete moron, but I just tried it with the smallest .MOV (~500Mb) in my library and couldn't get it to work.

I'll try with a .M4V, but don't hold your breath :(

EDIT: Nope, didn't work, maybe with smaller files, but full length movies don't seem to work.
 
photos, if apple introduces a file system into iOS, then perhaps it could then be leveraged for secondary storage.
 
In all likelihood strictly for photos. However it would be nice to be able to import video as well and have iMove for iPad.
 
Tones2 said:
Is this true? Can the Video app stream video files directly from the SD card using the CCK? Everything that I've read said that it does not. Even copyig video to the iPad from the SD card seems to be flakey.

Tony
Click to expand...

You need to import them to play and since 4.2.1 it's gotten a little goofier. Just rename the .m4v files to 8 characters and place them in the DCIM folder on the flash drive or SD card. Once imported they should play fine.
 
poloponies said:
You need to import them to play and since 4.2.1 it's gotten a little goofier. Just rename the .m4v files to 8 characters and place them in the DCIM folder on the flash drive or SD card. Once imported they should play fine.
Click to expand...

If I have to import them onto the device storage from the card then it's completely pointless. I can use my computer to do that, and much easier.

Tony
 
maflynn said:
If apple introduces a file system into iOS, then perhaps it could then be leveraged for secondary storage.
Click to expand...

It wouldn't have to have a file system if the secondardary storage was considered part of the iPod / Video player sandbox, I would assume. Of course, this would still be an iOS change. A file system would only be necessary if you want 3rd party access to the individual files.
 
Tones2 said:
If I have to import them onto the device storage from the card then it's completely pointless. I can use my computer to do that, and much easier.

Tony
Click to expand...

Hardly pointless. If you're traveling and away from your computer you can keep additional movies on an SD card, delete the ones you've watched and add more as needed.

If you want to extend storage, then try the AirStash.
 
Tones2 said:
Well, if it could be used for music and video storage, there would be a huge advantage of having it. Apple could keep the internal device max at 64 GB and users who need more than that (like me) would be able to get up to another 64 GB if they wanted.
Click to expand...
I can't see Apple moving away from their official stance of having all media synced through iTunes. It just seems they have decided this is the 'correct' way of doing things and that is that.
 
ZilogZ80 said:
I can't see Apple moving away from their official stance of having all media synced through iTunes. It just seems they have decided this is the 'correct' way of doing things and that is that.
Click to expand...

They can still do that. Just allow the SD card to hold any excess over a specified GB allocation on the device itself.
 
poloponies said:
If you want to extend storage, then try the AirStash.
Click to expand...

All the reviews I've read of Airstash says that streaming from the device is terrible - too jittery to even consider. Plus it doesn't do DRM protected files, as a lot of my video are (i.e. those downloaded from iTunes).
 
Tones2 said:
They can still do that. Just allow the SD card to hold any excess over a specified GB allocation on the device itself.
Click to expand...

As an SD card is removable the situation isn't really that simple. For example, what should iTunes do if you sync without an SD card after earlier syncing with an SD card installed. Should all the iTunes content on the SD card be removed? The user experience would also be a bit more complicated as the user would have to remember which SD card the music they want is stored on.

The problem becomes harder when you think about Apps. If you could install Apps on an SD card then iOS would have to cope with the SD card being removed while an App is running. SD cards are also of widely varying speeds so that may also cause problems with read/write timings in some Apps.

Finally there is the brutal business logic; solving these problems would lead people to buy cheaper iPads and then buy extra memory from someone else. Obviously this would be bad for Apple's bottom line except if people were willing to move to a competitor who did offer the feature. I don't know about phones and tablets but there is no evidence this was a factor with iPods.
 
blackNBUK said:
As an SD card is removable the situation isn't really that simple. For example, what should iTunes do if you sync without an SD card after earlier syncing with an SD card installed. Should all the iTunes content on the SD card be removed? The user experience would also be a bit more complicated as the user would have to remember which SD card the music they want is stored on.

The problem becomes harder when you think about Apps. If you could install Apps on an SD card then iOS would have to cope with the SD card being removed while an App is running. SD cards are also of widely varying speeds so that may also cause problems with read/write timings in some Apps.

Finally there is the brutal business logic; solving these problems would lead people to buy cheaper iPads and then buy extra memory from someone else. Obviously this would be bad for Apple's bottom line except if people were willing to move to a competitor who did offer the feature. I don't know about phones and tablets but there is no evidence this was a factor with iPods.
Click to expand...

Well I wasn't talking about apps being installed on the device, just media. As for the business argument, well almost every other smart phone / tablet device has an external storage slot of some kind, and they seem to survive, :)

As for the iTunes sync vs SD card media sybc, yea It'd be hard to sync to iTunes AND have the flexibility to use media from the SD card. Maybe iTunes can support mutiple libraries that detect the use of a particular named SD card or something like that. SOMETHING like that is certainly possible, but I'd have to think that through.

Tony
 
Tones2 said:
Well I wasn't talking about apps being installed on the device, just media.
Click to expand...

It could introduce a number of difficulties still as the iPhone/iPod/iPad tends to monitor its media library fairly closely and trying to keep up-to-date with removable device can cause all kind of troubles as I have experienced with other devices where I had to update the library whenever card was inserted/removed and slow SD card affected the system performance. Knowing Apple hates that kind of potential glitchy, my wild guess is that they'll strictly use it for importing pictures from cameras.
 
fertilized-egg said:
It could introduce a number of difficulties still as the iPhone/iPod/iPad tends to monitor its media library fairly closely and trying to keep up-to-date with removable device can cause all kind of troubles as I have experienced with other devices where I had to update the library whenever card was inserted/removed and slow SD card affected the system performance. Knowing Apple hates that kind of potential glitchy, my wild guess is that they'll strictly use it for importing pictures from cameras.
Click to expand...

If the apps are allowed to natively "see" usable files on the SD card (i.e. Photos.app can see the jpgs on the SD card) then there really isn't a need to use iTunes to manage them. Personally I have been hoping for something like a universal filebox so that files are not held hostage by any single app. For example, game saves are not tied to the app and can be restored even if the game.app had been previously removed or installed on a different/new iOS device. This needs to be addressed if Apple wants games to be taken more seriously.
 
Tones2 said:
Well I wasn't talking about apps being installed on the device, just media. As for the business argument, well almost every other smart phone / tablet device has an external storage slot of some kind, and they seem to survive, :)
Click to expand...

They may survive but very few of them are as profitable as the iOS devices and ultimately that's what it's all about. If Apple can make more money from selling high-capacity iOS devices than they lose from people choosing other devices because they have expandable storage then there isn't a business reason for Apple to change. I don't particularly like this fact but these kinds of things happen in a capitalist world.
 
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