[zzffnn]

If this group buy happens, the price of a SSD vs HDD is about $60-$100 less for the HDD. The advantages are clear. Their is no moving parts, and I work in a computer repair center at a college, trust me, hard drives go, and any drive of any size will go at random times. Even if you're not very mobile, the SSD has a better likelihood of lasting many years. The other advantage is reports of it speeding up the loading times of songs and it's consistently low amount of power consumption. On a moving platter, the drive needs to spin the drive, then move its arm to the appropriate location, then read the information and then stop the drive.....in a SSD, electrical signals are sent to the drive to retrieve information at a given location....and it gets directly accessed, no extra power wasted.

Thanks. eBay's 240GB HDD for iPod is around 100USD though, so hdd would save 160, not 100 USD. I perfectly understand the theoretical advantage of SSD. Like I said, SSD is theoretically better. The big question is whether or not SSD sound AUDIBLY better?

Re HDD failure and power consumption. Maybe i am careful enough or just lucky, none of my multiple hdd's has died yet (including the 10 yrs old ones). My iPod also rarely leaves its charger/digital dock, so power consumption of HDD is not a big deal either.

Re Faster transfer rate / song loading speed of SSD vs HDD, I am not sure you will be able to use that advantage. Because once in an iPod, data transfer speed of any drive will be limited by the significantly slower USB interface of iPod, not by said drive's inherent speed limit, correct?

I don't mean to argue.......just need some more persuasion........

 

[swordguy]

That all sounds good.  We only need one guinea pig for now.  Are there PMs on this site?  If so, whoever wants to be the test subject, PM me your e-mail address and we'll see about getting this started.

 

[kenman345]

The transfer rate is for recalling the music file you are finding or playing.
Quote:

Thanks. eBay's 240GB HDD for iPod is around 100USD though, so hdd would save 160, not 100 USD. I perfectly understand the theoretical advantage of SSD. Like I said, SSD is theoretically better. The big question is whether or not SSD sound AUDIBLY better?
Re HDD failure and power consumption. Maybe i am careful enough or just lucky, none of my multiple hdd's has died yet (including the 10 yrs old ones). My iPod also rarely leaves its charger/digital dock, so power consumption of HDD is not a big deal either.
Re Faster transfer rate / song loading speed of SSD vs HDD, I am not sure you will be able to use that advantage. Because once in an iPod, data transfer speed of any drive will be limited by the significantly slower USB interface of iPod, not by said drive's inherent speed limit, correct?
I don't mean to argue.......just need some more persuasion........

 

[zzffnn]

Quote:

The transfer rate is for recalling the music file you are finding or playing.

Thanks. That makes more sense, assuming that iPod's internal hardware is not limiting the performance of SSD. So would a SSD iPod be faster, say 1 second faster per song than HDD, when switching from one songs to another song? I assume power-on time should also be faster with SSD iPod.

 

[kenman345]

Below you will find an excerpt from ALO Audio's website about the iMod they sometimes have in stock that has an SSD in it.
Quote:

Thanks. That makes more sense, assuming that iPod's internal hardware is not limiting the performance of SSD. So would a SSD iPod be faster, say 1 second faster per song than HDD, when switching from one songs to another song? I assume power-on time should also be faster with SSD iPod.

 
 

 
Quote: From ALO Audio's website

Advantages of the SSD iMod:

1. No moving parts! No moving parts means a much longer lasting iMod
2. Ultra reliable, long lasting SSD drive
3. Improved performance, low/no vibrations and superior sound quality vs standard spinning hard drives
4. A much longer battery life and play time due to the SSD drive
5. Faster boot up time

 
 
These list above is what they advertise as the advantages. I believe wholeheartedly each one of them. Their is enough information about each claim in this thread to justify each item.

 

[zzffnn]

Quote:

Below you will find an excerpt from ALO Audio's website about the iMod they sometimes have in stock that has an SSD in it.
 
 

 
 
 
These list above is what they advertise as the advantages. I believe wholeheartedly each one of them. Their is enough information about each claim in this thread to justify each item.

 
Thanks. I am well aware of ALO or RWA iMOD. Personally I tend not to trust a vendor's marketing statements, especially when said vendor is charging $1100 for an iMOD. I will read through member's comments within this thread.

 

[kenman345]

In a case like this, i'm a bit more trusting. I repair computers as a part time job while I go to college and have experienced SSD in computers that used to have HDD. The difference is noticeable in respect to startup time (I find about 40% less time to startup), battery life, overall speed of recalling files, and the obvious length of time the SSD lasts. 
Quote:

 
Thanks. I am well aware of ALO or RWA iMOD. Personally I tend not to trust a vendor's marketing statements, especially when said vendor is charging $1100 for an iMOD. I will read through member's comments within this thread.

 

[zzffnn]

Quote:

In a case like this, i'm a bit more trusting. I repair computers as a part time job while I go to college and have experienced SSD in computers that used to have HDD. The difference is noticeable in respect to startup time (I find about 40% less time to startup), battery life, overall speed of recalling files, and the obvious length of time the SSD lasts. 

 
All the advantages stated above are obvious.
 
I am just saying, in a desktop setting wherein iPod only serves as a digital transport (e.g., iPod outputs coaxial digital to an external DAC), the sound quality may not be improved by SSD mod. For $160 cheaper, I can tolerate all that disadvantages of a HDD iPod for about 1-2 years (Amazon reviews suggest that carefully used iPod HDD will last about 2 years).
 
Who knows, maybe 2 yrs later, we will have a cheaper 500GB SSD or SDXC iPod that can be Rockboxed; I would rather spend all my money on that one (my music library will reach 1.2-1.5 TB very soon, so 256GB barely meets my requirement).

 

[kenman345]

Damn, nice amount of music you got there. Never heard of anything involving using an SDXC in an iPod, but it would be more efficient than a 500GB SSD since any on the market seem to potentially require too much voltage that the iPod can't keep up with. 
 
I am not trying to change your mind, just trying to make you a bit more well informed. If you are looking for something just to use as a transport, their are a few other options that might suit your needs, check around or PM me if you are having trouble, I'll help you find it. I know I have seen a few different transports that are not iPod's that hold lots of storage potential
Quote:

All the advantages stated above are obvious.
 
I am just saying, in a desktop setting wherein iPod only serves as a digital transport (e.g., iPod outputs coaxial digital to an external DAC), the sound quality may not be improved by SSD mod. For $160 cheaper, I can tolerate all that disadvantages of a HDD iPod for about 1-2 years (Amazon reviews suggest that carefully used iPod HDD will last about 2 years).
 
Who knows, maybe 2 yrs later, we will have a cheaper 500GB SSD or SDXC iPod that can be Rockboxed; I would rather spend all my money on that one (my music library will reach 1.2-1.5 TB very soon, so 256GB barely meets my requirement).

 

[swordguy]

I had given some consideration to SDXC, and have posted in another forum to try to figure out if it would be possible to make an ZIF adaptor that would accept 2 cards as one (they make small adaptors that do this with two microSDs so they can fit in a regular SD slot).  Then you could buy the two (cheaper) 128GB cards and have 256GB that way.  Overall, it would be less expensive (but not if we can get these drives at $266).  I thought of this before I found these other drives, and it seems kind of moot now.
 
My main reason for wanting an SSD is the durability.  Not the read times or anything like that.  Often times if I'm on my motorcycle, my music will just stop playing.  I have to grab the iPod to shield it from the vibration and the music starts back up almost instantly.  I can't imagine that this is healthy for the drive.  Furthermore, I don't want to have to wonder if I'm doing damage if I accidentally drop the unit.  SSD = POM (peace of mind).  Furthermore, barring any other catastrophic failures (breaking the screen, water damage, etc.), the iPod will have a very long lifespan with an SSD.  In the time it takes one of them to finally die, you could have bought at least 3 HDDs.  Where's your money savings then?

 

[zzffnn]

Quote:

Damn, nice amount of music you got there. Never heard of anything involving using an SDXC in an iPod, but it would be more efficient than a 500GB SSD since any on the market seem to potentially require too much voltage that the iPod can't keep up with. 
 
I am not trying to change your mind, just trying to make you a bit more well informed. If you are looking for something just to use as a transport, their are a few other options that might suit your needs, check around or PM me if you are having trouble, I'll help you find it. I know I have seen a few different transports that are not iPod's that hold lots of storage potential

 
Thanks. I hope I am wrong, but I have not seen any good digital transport that can can hold over 240GB. I know the following LESSER options:
1) That Archos 5 (500GB) does not seem reliable to me (Archos has a HDD failure rate that is a lot higher than an iPod), not to mention I am not even sure it can output SPDIF.
2) Cowon X7 is only 160GB......
3) iPod 240 HDD docked to my Pure i20 to output digital coax or optical
3) Modifying iRiver H1XX series will cost about the same as iPod 240 HDD.
4) I could spend $175 to get a 128GB SDXC to fit my current digital transport (coax out of Archos 605), but I would rather get a iPod 240GB HDD for $200 considering it has bigger storage and is more portable.

 

[zzffnn]

Quote:

I had given some consideration to SDXC, and have posted in another forum to try to figure out if it would be possible to make an ZIF adaptor that would accept 2 cards as one (they make small adaptors that do this with two microSDs so they can fit in a regular SD slot).  Then you could buy the two (cheaper) 128GB cards and have 256GB that way.  Overall, it would be less expensive (but not if we can get these drives at $266).  I thought of this before I found these other drives, and it seems kind of moot now.
 
My main reason for wanting an SSD is the durability.  Not the read times or anything like that.  Often times if I'm on my motorcycle, my music will just stop playing.  I have to grab the iPod to shield it from the vibration and the music starts back up almost instantly.  I can't imagine that this is healthy for the drive.  Furthermore, I don't want to have to wonder if I'm doing damage if I accidentally drop the unit.  SSD = POM (peace of mind).  Furthermore, barring any other catastrophic failures (breaking the screen, water damage, etc.), the iPod will have a very long lifespan with an SSD.  In the time it takes one of them to finally die, you could have bought at least 3 HDDs.  Where's your money savings then?

 
Good idea about putting two or more SDXC into one adapter.
 
For biking, another alternative is to get a Sansa Clip+ and give it four 64GB microSDXC cards (one inside Clip+ and three others taped to Clip+ 's back). Assuming you do NOT have either iPod or Sansa, the Sansa option will be about $67 less to get to 256GB (in view of the $266 SSD and $64 microSDXC). But you have to swap microSDXC cards with the Sansa, which may be annoying.

 

[scompton]

If you don't need portable, I'd go with a computer anyway, or an Airport Express, especially since your library is too big for even an upgraded iPod.  I've been thinking of getting a couple of Airport Expresses to stream music to various points in the house from my Mac Mini.
 
How are you getting coax out of the iPod?  Is there something inexpensive now that gets digital out?  Everything I've seen is too expensive. 

 

[zzffnn]

Pure i20, for 100 bucks, can take digital out of iDevices and output coaxial, optical, RCA, component video and S Video, at the same time charges iDevices. There is a Headfi thread for it, people like it. I have 2 of them.

For my use, I guess I want a 240 GB iPod for now. I like that it can be portable for commute or multiple rooms, and can also dock to Pure i20 to output digital to external DAC and amp. Eventually I will set up a NAS with TBs of storage and stream music to my iPhone 3GS docked or without dock.

Edit: my computer is over 5 yrs old with less than 100GB left (my music is seperately stored on serveral extracted SATA hard drives that are not attached to computer). So upgrading to NAS and stream to iPhone may be way to go for me, especially in view of the possibility of remote streaming.

 

[scompton]

I didn't know about the Pure i20.  I'll look into it, although I'll still probably go the Airport Express route.  Six months ago I replace my music computer.  It was an XP machine that I bought shortly after SP1 came out.  After 5 years, I still consider the PC new

   I had to get a new PC at work because my development laptop was on it's last legs, but for most people, a 3 year old machine for doing software development is ancient.  If not for the fact that it would periodically shut down with no warning, I'd still be using it.