I had trouble making a MP3 file play on the PS3 (have no idea why, it just say that it was “unsupported data” and the problem was with the very file itself, I am sure of that, but moving on), so, using Audacity, I recorded the song itself. But when I exported the “project,” as Audacity puts it, I exported it directly into my microSD card (32 GB). Then when I went to connect it to the PS3 (using a microSD-to-USB adapter), it didn’t register. When I put in back into the computer, it said that it needed to be formatted to be able to use it anymore. I actually tried to do that, and 9 hours of sleep later, I found out my computer was incapable of doing it.
Eventually, using another phone, I got the Audacity exported-MP3 recording onto the PS3, but that’s not the point. Was the cause of my microSD card basically becoming useless because I exported an MP3 onto it from Audacity? Have there been previous problems like this when someone didn’t export onto their computers? Or was it another factor?
The SD card should not be a problem. I have no idea how the formatting works, but if you can write the MP3 with a filename (just like you’d write/copy to a disk) and read it back on the computer, I think the PS3 should be able to read it too. The fact that it’s MP3 doesn’t matter… It’s just data in a file. (But, I’d want to make sure you have a good MP3 first.)
Have you ever transfered files between the PC and PS3 with an SD card before?
SD cards are not the most reliable recording medium - sometimes they go wrong and the data can then be corrupted.
It is sometimes possible to recover corrupted data from an SD card using third party software (such as BadCopy Pro (commercial product - not free).
Reformatting the SD card will usually restore an SD card to usable (this will destroy all data on the SD card).
Windows may not be able to format a corrupt SD card - in this case it might be worth trying to reformat in a different device such as a camera, or other hardware device that supports the SD card, or a computer running Linux.
I can’t think of any reason why exporting from Audacity to an SD card is more likely to cause corruption than any other data write - it’s just writing data via the normal OS file system. Sometimes an SD card can be corrupted by trying to write more data than will fit (possible in the case of Audacity because you are writing large files), in which case re-formatting should sort it out (but lose the data).
I think Steve gave you a very full description. Please don’t blame Audacity for this. It just writes data to the storage medium you point it to. If you point it to a less reliable, relatively flimsy medium like SD/memory cards then you take your chances. Use a USB stick instead.