The Sandisk Extreme III Compactflash is a good example of a high speed
"name brand" flash memory card. The speed rating of 133x
(theoretically, almost 20MB per second) used to be "extremely" fast,
but these days the fastest cards are rated near 266x (40MB/sec).
This sort of speedy performance is not necessary for audio recording,
but it does reduce the time you have to wait while your recordings are
copied from flash card to computer.
Here's an example. Recording stereo at 24/48 for an hour generates
about 1GB of files. With a fast card reader, the Extreme III can
transfer 1GB to your computer in about 60 seconds.
The slowest Compactflash cards sold today are rated around 40x
(6MB/sec), three times slower than the Extreme III. So transferring
the same 1GB of files will take a "slow" card about 200 seconds.
In digital photography, a fast flash memory card does make an
important difference. A fast card quickly records the data from an
exposure, reducing the time you have to wait before taking the next
shot. Reducing the wait time from, say, 2 seconds to less than 1
second can make a big difference in your satisfaction with the
camera's responsiveness.
So if you plan to use your flash memory cards for both photography and
audio recording, spending the extra money for a high speed card like
the Sandisk Extreme III makes sense.
Here are today's typical low prices for the Extreme III from reputable
Internet dealers in USA. You definitely pay more for the Sandisk name.
1GB $25
2GB $35
4GB $60
8GB $110
16GB $220
--oryoki
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