davisflyer

Has anyone tried a 128 GB SD card in the A3?

ericbergan

Works in a 2016 e-tron.

daves4

FWIW - there is a maximum number of songs that the MMI will index, regardless of the size of the card and how much you have on it. I had to strip things down a lot to be within that max.

ericbergan

Apparently on the e-tron, its a max (around 5000?) in a folder. But our SD has about 7000 across lots of subfolders, and it seemed to handle it, after chewing on it awhile to index.

Redd

Not to be petty, but SD cards have a max 2GB capacity.
That's part of the problem and the continual confusion about cards.
SD card, max 2GB.
SDHD card, max capacity 32GB.
SDXC card (which has been around for 7? years now?) pushes that was beyond the 256GB that these are now available in.

"MMI" also apparently just refers to Audi's computer OS, and not to the radios. So, neither AMI nor MMI is relevant, just a question of what your particular model Bose supports. With an upgraded radio (i.e. Bose) usually it is SDXC with a limit of 64 or 128GB. With a plain "Audi" system, often the limit is SDHC at 32GB, and if you stick in a larger card, the system simply ignores files with an address above 32GB.

Every radio maker, every model radio, also has limits on how many files/folders/levels it can have in total, AFAIK. A USB interface often has a higher limit, but frequently still has a limit on totals, or on file name length, which limits how many folders deep you can go. It just depends on what the maker has chosen to support, and that's constantly being revised. (Except of course, when they are making radios for Audi and keeping obsoleted standards.)

FWIW.

AoA doesn't understand "SD" card standards and limits. Or seem to realize, they are six years behind the times on memory card standards.

ericbergan

Our e-tron came with B&O, fwiw. Interestingly, I don't remember any differentiation in the MMI manual of differences based on head unit, but I could have missed a footnote somewhere.

Redd

It may (no, make that WILL) differ on those models which have had a recent redesign and so have new electronics. Offhand I don't think my Q5 manual made a big deal of it either, but then again, there's so many pages to memorize.(G)

On some models the base radio takes one SDHC card and ignores everything over 32GB, which the same model with an upgraded sound system will take somewhat larger SDXC cards--although apparently still have limits.

All the industries involved (car, electronics, etc.) seem to prefer keeping the confusion, perhaps because it allows them to keep obsolete designs without any competitive loss.

Sometimes the size limit is actually a hardware limit, because the reader can only "count this high" with the number of address lines it has, or a limited memory area. Other times, the OS in the reader was just made, well, not expertly.

If you've been around PC's long enough, you might remember that the original IBM PC/AT's had limited space for memory, and if you wanted a whole four MEGA bytes, you needed to install expansion cards. That kind of problem has always been with us...the goal posts just keep changing, and some of the vendors just don't bother keeping up.

Audi? AoA? So nice to know that someone has been hiring the laid off Radio Shack workers.(G)
LP's, 45's, 8-track, open reel, cassette, heck, now my nephews don't even know where their CD players might be. "Can't you stream that?" The world has done digital, it just hasn't quite bothered to clean up the mess behind the digital elephants yet.(G)

ericbergan

My career in computers started pre- PC's, so yup, I've seen all the evolution, from HW, SW and networking perspectives. You're also right that the automotive industry is struggling with the pace of technology changes, and the CE companies are struggling with the vastly slower refresh rates of autos (and to a lesser extent, the TV manufacturers.)

Redd

Of course if the greedy SOBs who ask for an extra $1000 upgrade for what is only a $200 radio to begin with, would do back to the standard "Hell no, they might buy it aftermarket" double-DIN spec for radios, it wouldn't cost them so damned much to keep up with technology. Like, redesigning one or two units each year, instead of six or ten.

Let's see, Velcro a cellular tablet on the dash, connect a Bluetooth OBD port and speakers....Ooops.(G) What's that saying about the greedy pigs becoming the bacon?

ericbergan

Even worse, we didn't want the B&O, but it was bundled with the Premier package, which is the only way on the e-tron to get ACC and Lane assist. So weren't given a choice.