Hi everyone
I know this is an old thread but in case you still use the NW-A45 player - I have three of them now, and don’t want the newer A55 - not worth it for the money or the new A105 VERY expensive and I don’t need the features it offers. The NW-A45 player is the best for my money.
I HAD a very large collection of MP3 files, so I started out with two players - using 2 SanDisk HDXC cards at 400 GB each
I just bought a third A45 for my wife and I’m going to look at larger still cards - as I am currently rebuilding my CD collection as all FLAC (as much as possible) using a brilliant free tool called Exact Audio Copy (which I highly, highly recommend for ripping FLAC from CD - the best!!). I have had zero problems with 400 GB micro SD cards...but be sure to buy a reputable brand - like SanDisk - and make sure you buy SDXC not just SD ...IT HAS to be XC.
I have read, but not yet confirmed...on one blog - that it can support up to a 2 TB card !!! I haven’t verified that yet...but I am going to look at trying a larger than 400 in one player to see how it performs.
It is my belief that the idea of a “song limit” is a myth. There is no such thing.
The limit...is the size of the card you buy and install.
As to the often asked question “how many songs will it hold?”....
1) The capacity of the SD card
2) The type of audio file (compressed - Like MP3 - means smaller, uncompressed - like FLAC - means larger)
3) How many of which types you have
that means you can’t really express player capacity in terms of “how many songs”...unless you state the file type, compression ratio, or average size - and even that doesn’t work, because some FLACs are small (one minute song) and some are HUGE (61 minute song)
Just for reference then...here are two examples - of two of my players - each with a SanDisk micro SDCX 400 GB card installed - (your results WILL VARY - probably by a LOT - so this VERY VERY APPROXIMATE ONLY):
___________________________________________________________________________________________
REAL EXAMPLES OF “HOW MANY SONGS FIT - WITH A 400 GB micro SDXC card
(366.75 GB USEABLE CAPACITY)
EXAMPLE 1
PLAYER 1 - “Green”:
“Green” contains mostly MP3 files all encoded at 320 Kbps (so the largest possible MP3 - 320 is best quality possible for MP3 format) with perhaps 500 FLACs now and looks like this:
366.75 GB usable space on the 400GB SDCX card
0.94 GB Free space (so it is VERY full)
= 26115 songs currently
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
EXAMPLE 2
PLAYER 2 - “Blue”:
“Blue” contains almost all MP3 files - many encoded at 320 Kbps but some at lower rates like 128 Kbps or 256 Kbps (which are smaller than 320 Kbps) - plus a much larger number - several thousand at least of the much larger FLACs - so a real mix of stuff on this player - and “Blue” looks like this:
366.75 GB usable space on the 400GB SDCX card
81.30 GB Free space (so this player is not full...it’s a work in progress)
= 12561 songs currently
>>>>>>>>>>>EXAMPLES END>>>>>>>>>>>>
Please note that:
When you have a lot of MP3-320 and a few FLACs - you get over 26000 songs
When you have a lot of FLACs and fewer MP3-320 - you get over 12000 songs
SO:
Uncompressed FLAC files - which are big but sound amazing - take up a LOT of space!!
Compressed MP3 files - which are smaller and sound OK - take up a LOT LESS space than FLAC files
if I then add together those two song counts
26115
12561
That is a grand total of 38,676 songs - stored across two 400 GB cards on two players.
Given that Player 1 is basically full, and Player 2 has 81 GB free still - I would say with this pretty random mix of different sized MP3 and FLAC files...that if I crammed both devices to overflowing, I think I could easily get 45,000 songs or more.
As I am now getting rid of MP3 and replacing all MP3 (where possible) with newly ripped from CD FLAC...the number of songs I can fit will start to reduce. I reckon I can get between 12000 and 15000 FLACs...maybe...once all MP3 are removed and it’s all FLAC...but that is still a LOT of songs.
and if I can find a 1TB micro SD card and it actually works...then that will more than DOUBLE the very approximate, very much estimated counts of songs that will fit “guesses” above.
so - very arbitrary - your results WILL DIFFER!!
if you have all MP3 files at 128 Kbps - you will fit A LOT MORE files than this on a 400GB card
if you have all MP3 files at 320 Kbps - you will fit not quite as many as above
if you have all FLAC files - uncompressed audio files - you will fit far fewer files than above
And ... if you have a mixture of types and sizes - as I do at the moment - then your results MIGHT be sort of, very vaguely, slightly, somewhat like my two examples above...but there is really NO METHOD to determine “how many songs will fit” .....you just have to do it until the device is full...THEN...you know 🙂
I also suggest, ignoring any advert or website advertising players that says “limit 15,000 songs” or “fits 20,000 songs”...what I describe above is how it REALLY works. In practice. In the real examples based on real experience outlined above.
So.....forget about “song limits”, forget about “how many will fit”...just get yourself a bigger card and have room to grow!
I hope this is helpful.Edited
pureambient dot bandcamp dot com
