Flash Card Buying Guide

Your camera, MP3 player, PDA, or other electronic device probably came with some built-in storage or a small flash card. So why would you need an extra card? What are the differences between the types of cards? And what size card should you buy?

For the answers to your questions about flash cards, click one of the links below.

Digital cameras - Just one extra flash card may not be your best bet. Find out why it is recommended having several cards on hand.

MP3 players - How many hours of music can you fit on a card?

Handhelds/PDAs - Your handheld can probably do a lot more than serve as an electronic address book. Flash cards can help your handheld become a more effective business tool.

Buying Flash Cards for a Digital Camera

If you are not always near your computer when you use your camera, you need an extra card. In fact, you probably need more than one extra card. Many cameras come with 4MB or 8MB flash cards. If you take high-resolution photos, your card will fill up after just a photo or two. Because you probably will want to take more than a couple of photos at a time, you'll need some more cards.

Even if your camera comes with a 32MB or 64MB card, you probably still need to have a couple of extra cards on hand. These cards fill up faster than you expect, and you don't want to miss a prime photo opportunity because your card is full. You may also want to use your cards to share photos with family or friends, or to archive photos permanently.

What size card should I buy?
It is recommended to buy cards that will hold at least 24-36 images at a time. The size of card that holds 24-36 images will vary depending on your camera and the resolution settings you like to use. See How many pictures can I fit on a flash card.

There are several reasons to not buy just one card that will hold hundreds of images.

First, because flash cards are very small, it's easy to lose or misplace them. If you're on a trip and you lose your only flash card, not only will you lose all the pictures you've already taken, you won't be able to take any more photos until you find a place to buy a new card. If your photos are spread out over several cards, losing one of them isn't nearly as upsetting.

Second, remember that using the display screen on your camera will wear out your batteries quickly. If you have to scroll through a hundred pictures to find the one you want to look at or delete, you'll waste precious battery power.

What type of card should I buy?
Digital cameras most commonly take CompactFlash™ or SmartMedia™ cards. However, most cameras take one or the other, but not both. For more information, see flash card comparison chart.

Buying Flash Cards for an MP3 Player

If you're like most MP3 listeners, you have a huge library of songs in MP3 format. If that's the case, you'll probably need a lot of extra cards just to hold all of your music. Also, many people like to use their cards to create personalized collections of songs. You may want to group songs together by artist, or you may prefer an eclectic mix of songs that you like to listen to. And you may need even more cards to share your music with your family and friends.

What size card should I buy?
Bigger is better when it comes to flash cards for MP3 players. Because most people buy MP3 players in part so they can listen to several hours of music without hearing the same song twice, it is best to buy the biggest cards you can afford.

A 64MB card can hold about an hour's worth of MP3s. If you spend hours every day listening to music and you don't want to hear the same song twice, you'll definitely want cards that hold 64MB or more.

What type of card should I buy?
Every MP3 player is different, and they accept a wide variety of card formats. Because of their small size, SD and MultiMediaCards are some of the most common. In fact, SD cards are becoming more popular all the time because their encryption capabilities can help to prevent illegal copying.

To learn more about the types of flash cards, see flash card comparison chart.

Buying Flash Cards for Your Handheld/PDA

Today's handheld computers and personal digital assistants can do a lot more than just serve as an electronic address book. However, if you install other programs, like games, an Internet browser, e-mail, you'll probably quickly run out of storage space. An extra flash card can give you room for more programs or large files.

Also, if you store important data on your handheld, it's a good idea to do a backup. A flash card gives you an easy way to backup your data if you aren't downloading to a desktop or laptop every day.

Finally, many of the newer handhelds also double as MP3 players, audio recorders, and/or digital cameras. If you want to use these features of your handheld, you'll almost certainly need more storage space to hold your photos and music.

What size card should I buy?
The size of card you should buy will depend on your reason for buying the card. If you're looking for extra storage space for your programs and files, ist is recommended to buy the largest card(s) you can.

If you want to use your card to backup data, you'll probably need several small cards. That way you can backup to a different card every day. If you lose one day's backup, you'll still have the backup from the day before.

If you want to use your card for viewing photos or listening to music on your handheld, you should follow recommendations for digital cameras or MP3 players.

What type of card should I buy?
Handhelds, PDAs, and palmtops accept a wide variety of flash formats. Some even come with adaptors that allow you to use different types of cards.