After yet another visit to a client using a CD player for music on hold, I
wondered about replacing the thing with an MP3 player. Any thoughts? Are
they reliable enough to see out a year or two of 8 hours/5 days a week
operation?

Trevor Wilson

If it uses flash memory, there are no moving parts -- it should last many
years.

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
If it uses flash memory, there are no moving parts -- it should last many
years.

**Nope. Flash memory has a life-span. I am wondering if this needs to be
taken into account.

Trevor Wilson

On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 11:42:56 +1100, Trevor Wilson wrote:

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
If it uses flash memory, there are no moving parts -- it should last many
years.

**Nope. Flash memory has a life-span.

**Nope - for the most part.
Flash memory has a _memory write_ life-span.

I'm sure it can be read over and over again until you smash it with a
hammer after hearing that !$$##)@{@@}@^$ song onemore time. :-)

Jonesy
--
Marvin L Jones | jonz | W3DHJ | linux
38.24N 104.55W | @ config.com | Jonesy | OS/2
*** Killfiling google posts: http://jonz.net/ng.htm

"Allodoxaphobia" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 11:42:56 +1100, Trevor Wilson wrote:

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
If it uses flash memory, there are no moving parts -- it should last
many
years.

**Nope. Flash memory has a life-span.

**Nope - for the most part.
Flash memory has a _memory write_ life-span.

I'm sure it can be read over and over again until you smash it with a
hammer after hearing that !$$##)@{@@}@^$ song onemore time. :-)

**Thanks for the info. It looks like they will do the job just fine.

Trevor Wilson

If it uses flash memory, there are no moving parts -- it should last many
years.

**Nope. Flash memory has a life-span. I am wondering if this needs to be
taken into account.

The limited lifespan of flash is associated with the erase/write
cycles, which use a high voltage to tunnel electrons through an
insulating oxide barrier. The high voltage gradually degrades the
oxide, limiting the number of erase/write cycles per block.

The number of such erasures varies with the flash type, but is usually
in the hundreds-of-thousands range (Samsung says it's up to a million
cycles, if wear levelling and ECC are used).

There seems to be a storage lifetime, once the data is programmed...
it's usually quoted as something on the order of 10 to 20 years, if I
recall correctly.

I haven't seen any reports, or anything in the data sheets which would
indicate that the number of *read* cycles for a given flash-memory
block has any effect at all on the storage lifetime or the number of
erase/write cycles you can use. Reading doesn't involve modifying the
stored charge at all... it just senses it via a FET.

Unless you're planning to download a whole new batch of music to the
flash music-on-old player ever few hours, I doubt that you'll be able
to wear out such a device within less than a lotta years. It should
certainly survive well past the lifetime of a typical CD player!

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

"Dave Platt" wrote in message
...
If it uses flash memory, there are no moving parts -- it should last
many
years.

**Nope. Flash memory has a life-span. I am wondering if this needs to be
taken into account.

The limited lifespan of flash is associated with the erase/write
cycles, which use a high voltage to tunnel electrons through an
insulating oxide barrier. The high voltage gradually degrades the
oxide, limiting the number of erase/write cycles per block.

The number of such erasures varies with the flash type, but is usually
in the hundreds-of-thousands range (Samsung says it's up to a million
cycles, if wear levelling and ECC are used).

There seems to be a storage lifetime, once the data is programmed...
it's usually quoted as something on the order of 10 to 20 years, if I
recall correctly.

I haven't seen any reports, or anything in the data sheets which would
indicate that the number of *read* cycles for a given flash-memory
block has any effect at all on the storage lifetime or the number of
erase/write cycles you can use. Reading doesn't involve modifying the
stored charge at all... it just senses it via a FET.

Unless you're planning to download a whole new batch of music to the
flash music-on-old player ever few hours, I doubt that you'll be able
to wear out such a device within less than a lotta years. It should
certainly survive well past the lifetime of a typical CD player!



**Thanks for the info. It looks like they will do the job just fine.

Trevor Wilson

On Sat, 9 Feb 2008 20:00:54 -0800, (Dave Platt)
put finger to keyboard and composed:

There seems to be a storage lifetime, once the data is programmed...
it's usually quoted as something on the order of 10 to 20 years, if I
recall correctly.

Hmm, my PC's motherboard is now nearly 10 years old. Is it time to
refresh/reflash the BIOS EEPROM? Or does the storage lifetime only
apply if the device is not powered during that time?

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

"Trevor Wilson" wrote in message
...
"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...

If it uses flash memory, there are no moving parts -- it should last many
years.

**Nope. Flash memory has a life-span. I am wondering if this needs to be
taken into account.

Only for rewriting. Do you expect to be altering the flash drive all the
time, every day?