SD vs MMC

[JSVH]

What are the pros and cons of SD and MMC expansions cards? I'v heard SD has some copyright protection thing, what does it "protect", mp3s from napster? Is MMC slower?

[Warren]

My MMC transfers at about 60Kbps, which is ok, but it is a little slow. But the card is really small, so you can show it off to people.

[Matt Keys]

SD is the same size warren.<br><br>I too would be interested to know the real differences between these cards, as My next PPC will use them and I am unsure if I should go with MMC or SD. I think I will try and get some specs on these tonight. I will post anything I find.

[Warren]

Oh, duh! I was thinking CF card, although I read SD. Silly me. They are the same size, but I don't know the difference. I know that on a Palm ad on TV, they're coming with a 16Mb SD card, so maybe SD is designed for Palm, and MMC for PPC. But I'm just guessing.

[JSVH]

They have 128mb SD and MMC cards and both work on PPC. Heres some info I found on the "security" features of SD at panasonic.com:<br><br>"THE BENEFITS OF A SECURE MEDIUM<br>In order to keep digital files available for the public, content providers need security for their work and you need to be able to download them with ease. Now we have the technology for both thanks to SD.<br><br>The SD format, compliant with SDMI (Secure Digital Music Initiative) requirements, rewards the creative process of all artists by providing high-level security to their files. With the advent of SD, top-name artists are more likely to create new material for electronic media distribution, since they know their work is secure. This in turn enables content providers (record companies, movie studios and others) to offer more valuable content for direct distribution which gives you access to more downloadable files than ever before!"<br><br>Well I'v been read up on SDMI(what SD cards have) and it does sound like it wont let you use any other music files exept for ones that have the SDMI "water-mark" that means even legal music (and video?) cant be put on it! (atleast thats what I got from reading on it). But there are people who say they have cracked SDMI but either way it will be very difficult to find something to do that for you. So, I think if you want music or video you should count out SD. Someone probably sould double cheak my reseach though (I just put SDMI into search).

[JSVH]

Heres what I found on a MMC card on ebay:<br><br>"Read speed: sustained: 13.7 Mbits/s (multi-block read) / burst (one block): 20 Mbits/s <br><br>Write speed: sustained: 3.2 Mbits/s (multi-block write to pre-erased sectors) / burst (one block): 20 Mbits/s "<br><br>If thats true thats alot better than CF (which you said was 60Kbps, or was that wrong)...... I better look for a better source.

[JSVH]

heres what I found on MMC on the SanDisk website:<br><br>"What is the difference between the SD Card and MultiMediaCard? Which is faster? <br>  <br>Symptoms:<br>What is the difference between SD Card and MultiMediaCards? Which is faster?<br><br>Affects:<br>SanDisk products: SD Card, MultiMediaCard<br>Operating systems: All Microsoft and Mac<br>Hardware platform: All devices that use MultiMediaCard or SD Card.<br><br>Cause:<br>They are different technologies and devices that use the MultiMediaCard may not be able to use the SD Card, please refer to the device manufacturer to confirm compatibility before purchasing.<br><br>Solution:<br>In devices designed to use both, the SD Card will be faster than the MultiMediaCard by a noticeable amount.<br>The SD Card also offers secure features<br>For more information please refer to the spec sheets for each located on our website at our <br>literature page"<br><br>sounds bad, still no numbers though.

[JSVH]

Ok, The SD security copyright thing is not supported by PPC, so you can put whatever you want on a SD card for PPC. Also, some people have been doing MMC vs SD tests at Brighthand they say MMC is faster.

[Matt Keys]

thats funny, because I heard that MMC was slower. But I never received any actual specs on either. SD cards are significantly more expensive than MMC aren't they?

[JSVH]

Ya, I think SD is more expensive. And alot of places say SD is faster, but maybe they are just trying to rip people off.