entertainment.newsforge.com— Tim Lord has written up his experiences installing and using the hottest MP3 jukebox player software package on the planet -- RockBox -- on his iPod. He loves it and explains why.
Apr 14, 2006View in Crawl 4
Why the hell would I want to convert my lossless FLAC files to something s**tty like mp3 or aac? Rockbox and iPodLinux finally give me a reason to buy an iPod. But the Cowon iAudio X5 already does evertyhing I need, so no biggie.
I tried this out just now, and since I was careful, everything went fine. What I wasn't prepared for was how terrible the interface is, how poorly it performs, and how non-intuitive everything else is. It defeats the entire purpose of buying an iPod: simplicity.Since the setup process was well-designed, I was pleased to find that removing Rockbox and setting the iPod back to its original setup was painless. Rockbox has a long way to go before I find any utility in it.
You can CHANGE your iPod with Rockbox, but not necessarily IMPROVE it. The headline on this item is more of an editorial comment than factual information. For most normal users, your iPod experience will be degraded instead of improved.David
Also works on:# Archos: Jukebox 5000, 6000, Studio, Recorder, FM Recorder, Recorder V2 and Ondio# iRiver: H100 and H300 series# iAudio: X5 (including X5V and X5L) I mean, it has Doom and a Gameboy Colour emulator. What more could you want?
I am tempted but I want to know how easy it is to take it off...if only apple would just add an update to the iPod software to allow gapless and crossfading. then I would be the happiest boy on earth. no more of me making enhanced AAC files of my electronica albums!
Where are these iPod firmware "developer docs" you speak of?I'm not saying there's a DMCA claim. Rockbox claims they "clean room" reverse-engineered the Apple firmware and then wrote their own from scratch. Even so, I'd have at least two other worries:(1) breaching a "no reverse-engineering" clause in an end user license agreement somewhere. (Do iPods come with EULAs? They are part software...) (2) infringing some Apple patent, which could allow Apple to go after the developers and get an injunction against them
I have successfully downloaded and used RockBox and it is awesome!! i have a moderate skill level when it comes to computers so if you follow the manual provided on the RockBox website, you should be dont in a jiffy. I am running a iPod video 5g on windows XP. it took me about 30 minutes to fully complete all the steps. if you need extra help, there are even videos on youtube.com that give you tutorials. i have had no problems with anything thus far.
Yeah, that was my main complaint with the iPod. I hate hardware that takes away freedom. Kinda wish I knew about Rockbox when I bought my gmini 402. I dropped Rockbox into my wife's ipod nano and it fixed all gripes I had with the iPod. I think my next media player will be an iPod w/ Rockbox. The physical interface of the device and the fact that I can go out and get any accessory I can for the thing is awesome.
It's not hard to fix. The wiki tells you how to fix it, you can do it two ways. Restart the thing is safe mode and run Apple's iPod Restore or if you're a linux guy, just use the dd command to rewrite the boot partition of the ipod (It's one command, it's not as scary as it sounds)I put rockbox on my roommate's ipod mini when she was at work and restored the boot partition after ten minutes of looking at it.
Closed AccountApr 14, 2006
Why the hell would I want to convert my lossless FLAC files to something s**tty like mp3 or aac? Rockbox and iPodLinux finally give me a reason to buy an iPod. But the Cowon iAudio X5 already does evertyhing I need, so no biggie.
thugesquireApr 14, 2006
I tried this out just now, and since I was careful, everything went fine. What I wasn't prepared for was how terrible the interface is, how poorly it performs, and how non-intuitive everything else is. It defeats the entire purpose of buying an iPod: simplicity.Since the setup process was well-designed, I was pleased to find that removing Rockbox and setting the iPod back to its original setup was painless. Rockbox has a long way to go before I find any utility in it.
david513Apr 14, 2006
You can CHANGE your iPod with Rockbox, but not necessarily IMPROVE it. The headline on this item is more of an editorial comment than factual information. For most normal users, your iPod experience will be degraded instead of improved.David
voltagexApr 15, 2006
Also works on:# Archos: Jukebox 5000, 6000, Studio, Recorder, FM Recorder, Recorder V2 and Ondio# iRiver: H100 and H300 series# iAudio: X5 (including X5V and X5L) I mean, it has Doom and a Gameboy Colour emulator. What more could you want?
fett101Apr 15, 2006
You should keep in mind that it is still in developement. I used it on my old Archos and it was leaps ahead of the official firmware. Give them time.
goosemasterApr 15, 2006
For those of you complaining about the ipods lack of flac support, just convert it to apple lossless.
lordsandwichApr 15, 2006
"That's one of the funniest thing I've read recently."Indeed.
ehmjayApr 16, 2006
I am tempted but I want to know how easy it is to take it off...if only apple would just add an update to the iPod software to allow gapless and crossfading. then I would be the happiest boy on earth. no more of me making enhanced AAC files of my electronica albums!
anseljhMay 3, 2006
Where are these iPod firmware "developer docs" you speak of?I'm not saying there's a DMCA claim. Rockbox claims they "clean room" reverse-engineered the Apple firmware and then wrote their own from scratch. Even so, I'd have at least two other worries:(1) breaching a "no reverse-engineering" clause in an end user license agreement somewhere. (Do iPods come with EULAs? They are part software...) (2) infringing some Apple patent, which could allow Apple to go after the developers and get an injunction against them
bropark08May 4, 2006
I have successfully downloaded and used RockBox and it is awesome!! i have a moderate skill level when it comes to computers so if you follow the manual provided on the RockBox website, you should be dont in a jiffy. I am running a iPod video 5g on windows XP. it took me about 30 minutes to fully complete all the steps. if you need extra help, there are even videos on youtube.com that give you tutorials. i have had no problems with anything thus far.
ericmoritzMay 5, 2006
Yeah, that was my main complaint with the iPod. I hate hardware that takes away freedom. Kinda wish I knew about Rockbox when I bought my gmini 402. I dropped Rockbox into my wife's ipod nano and it fixed all gripes I had with the iPod. I think my next media player will be an iPod w/ Rockbox. The physical interface of the device and the fact that I can go out and get any accessory I can for the thing is awesome.
ericmoritzMay 5, 2006
It's not hard to fix. The wiki tells you how to fix it, you can do it two ways. Restart the thing is safe mode and run Apple's iPod Restore or if you're a linux guy, just use the dd command to rewrite the boot partition of the ipod (It's one command, it's not as scary as it sounds)I put rockbox on my roommate's ipod mini when she was at work and restored the boot partition after ten minutes of looking at it.
freydnotJun 4, 2006
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eugenbunenMay 13, 2007
Damn great. I've downloaded it ( <a class="user" href="http://www.pcmasters.de/download/informationen/review/rockbox.html">http://www.pcmasters.de/download/informationen/review/rockbox.html</a> ) some weeks ago for my sandisk sansa e250 and got some problems. The experiences and tipps helped me out.