Flash Memory In iPods

[herme3]

Somebody said in another thread that flash memory has a limited number of write cycles. I hope it is a very large limit, otherwise it will be a major problem for iPod Nanos. I think the iPod Nano writes to the flash memory everytime you play a song! It keeps track of which songs you play the most, and how many times you have played each song. You can check these statistics from iTunes.

 

Anyway, how many write cycles does the flash memory within the iPod Nano have?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Typically Flash memory will have around 100,000 write cycles (meaning each bit can be written to 100,000 times -- not the whole thing, but each bit). There are clever ways to get around this, however, as the Flash controller can detect if an area is getting "worn out" and mark that area as unusable, and therefore keeping data intact.

[5614]

How does it know when an area is getting "worn out"?

 

And is it some sort of physical degrading? When a bit becomes "worn out" then what has physically or electronically gone wrong with it?

[bluesmudge]

interesting becuase that mean that Apple are selling Ipods knowing full well they're going to wear out after a fixed number of uses, which doesn't sound too leagal to me . . . well not unless they warn you, don't suppose anyone has to hand the small print that comes with a nano?

 

Saying that the internal battery probably dies before you've over used the memory

[Klaynos]

most devices with flash memory have warnings in their manuals about it...

[5614]

It's not illegal.

 

Hard drives have a life span, you're not told that it will last an average of 5 years (I think it's approx that) before they die. Having said that I've known hard drives to fail after 3 and last for 10years, so it is an average only.

 

CDs can stop working after a certain amount of time (dependant on make and quality of actual CD).

 

ALL flash memory has a lifespan, not just Ipods.

 

Food has a limited lifespan!

 

Everything does... there's nothing illegal about selling something with a limited life span.

[AL]

Well aside from the obvious fact that everything wears out in due time, the lifespan of the Nano's memory is still more than you'll ever need. If you listen to the same song 5 times a day every day of the year, your Nano's memory will still last about 55 years (assuming the info you guys provided is true).

 

My current mp3 player is only 4 years old and already I want to get rid of it and buy a new one. Actually, I've wanted to get rid of it for the past 3 years now, so it's taken a good deal of willpower on my part to keep my spoiled consumerism in check.

[Klaynos]

the battery is far more likely to die before the memory.

[bascule]

iPods, especially the Mini and Nano, are fragile and will most likely break after 3-4 years.

 

It would not surprise me if a few years down the road we start hearing about Nanos dying from worn out flash.

 

Rather insightful thread though, I never thought about the iTunesDB wearing out the flash, but what you're describing is entirely possible.

[herme3]

Well aside from the obvious fact that everything wears out in due time, the lifespan of the Nano's memory is still more than you'll ever need. If you listen to the same song 5 times a day every day of the year, your Nano's memory will still last about 55 years (assuming the info you guys provided is true).

 

I think you should do the math again for me because I have a really pathetic and boring life...

 

I listen to my iPod almost non-stop from 3:00pm to 11:00pm excluding an hour for eating and bathing. That's about 7 hours a day, and even longer on weekends. On weekends, I listen to my iPod from about 12:00pm-2:00am. That's around 12 hours each day if you exclude eating and everything. The average song on my iPod is about 3 minutes long. That's a lot of writing to the memory!

 

the battery is far more likely to die before the memory.

 

Yes, but the battery is much easier to replace. If the battery dies, I think it costs around $60 for Apple to fix it. If the flash dies, it will cost me around $250 for a new iPod Nano.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

The iPod doesn't do all that much writing to memory with each song. It may write each time, but that's only to one particular area--when that area fails, the iPod can simply switch to another area. The memory space will gradually decline, but it is an incredibly slow process.