BillW said:
> I've been adding miniSD cards to ARM-based media players recently:
> http://www.elinux.org/wiki/JuiceBoxMMCHack

Cool!

> There's a problem with SD cards in general in that they're 
> heavily licensed, and in theory you can't get specs, or use 
> them, or buy sockets for them, without paying $$$$ in 
> SD-assoc membership fees.

Huh? My understanding was that the card /makers/ had to pay the fees not the
card /users/. Are they seriously saying that if you make a device that uses
their product (and therefore sells more of their product) that you have to
pay them a fee? The sockets are available from a number of sources. The
piclist.com page references some from mouser and jameco.

> (people get around this by using them in MMC/SPI mode, but 
> there's some question as to whether SD cards in general, and 
> especially the newer packages, always support that.)  

Huh? Where did you hear that doubt expressed? Everything I have read says
that the serial modes are required...

> (Sparkfun apparently sells microSD sockets.  And someone 
> pointed out that if you're careful you can use the "adaptors" 
> that usually come with the microSD cards as
> sockets...)

With sockets at a few dollars there is no need, but if you get the adapters
for free, it's a cool hack.

> MicroSD and miniSD are still somewhat more expensive than 
> full-sized SD, and IMHO, the "sweet point" for cheap microSD 
> cards is almost too large for typical embedded use.  Gimme 
> those $4 32M (full sized) MMC cards instead...

Good point. This is probably my main concern: In 5 years, will you be able
to purchase a 1GB microSD card or will they all be 20GB or more?

On the other hand, I wonder if you will be able to purchase any size MMC
card. They don't seem to have that large an install base...

---
James.
 

-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist