[SlackerClerk107]

I'm contemplating using it when my 80gig iPod video arrives but I have a few questions first.

Are you still able to buy content from the iTunes store?
Is it hard to install?
Is there any difference in how you can tweak the sound while playing music in rockbox?

 

[Febs]

Rockbox does not yet support the new iPod.

Rockbox does not support DRM (i.e., you can't use songs purchased from iTunes).

Rockbox is easy to install if you follow the instructions in the manual.

This should answer your other questions: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/vie...pic=WhyRockbox

 

[4metta]

As long as you back up all your music there certainly is no harm in trying it.

Only problem is that it's not yet available for the new ipods and the big issue for me is that it's always work in progress which means it's very buggy. If you buy songs from itunes you won't be able to play them either. Take a look at ilounge's Rockbox section to hear the benefits/headaches from different people who tried it. I personally have no interest except for the usable eq but my nano is sounding so good to me that I won't miss that either. Apple has to either fix their stupid (except for Treble Booster) eq settings or dump the eq option from the player.

 

[konish]

I was going to post this on a separate thread, but since you asked

I originally bought a 30 gig 5th gen ipod which I returned. The music just sounded flat...no matter what EQ setting I used. To say the least I was WAY underwhelmed by it in every way. Besides, it had the most ANNOYING hiss that I could not make go away...drove me nuts.

When I found out about the refurb 60 gig 5th gens (found out here by the way...thanks head-fi!), I decided to pull the trigger again. Why? I had been reading a LOT about RockBox and since I like to tinker and can't leave well-enough alone, I decided to pull the trigger on the ipod with some experimentation in mind.

When it arrived, I plugged it into the computer to charge...did NOT load iTunes nor did I trnasfer any music. Once fully charged, I immediately installed rockbox...then installed a custom build to use a really cool theme...jglass, I think its called. I had re-ripped everything using the LAME VBR (190-320 kbps) and loaded via the drag and drop method.

Anywho, once I tweaked the hardware and software eq, I just could NOT believe the sound difference comapred to my unmodded 30 gig 5th gen player. Had I installed RockBox on the 30 gig...I'd still own it! Mind you this is still using the headphone out, but am looking fiorward to the lineout interconnects available. Should be a noticeable increase in SQ.

I also own a Toshiba Gigabeat 60s and I can tell you without doubt that the RockBox ipod sounds WAY better. Unmodded, I'd say the gigabeat sounds better...more lively and way less flat and muddled. IMHO, anyone who doesn't install rockbox and just try it for themselves will never see how much potential the 5th gen ipods have...oh and the hiss was gone too!

R/
Dustin

 

[SlackerClerk107]

From the sounds of it I may want to get into it once it's available for the new iPods. Any estimates on when that may be?

 

[Febs]

No, we don't estimate release dates. Since Rockbox is worked on entirely by volunteers in their spare time, it is impossible to predict its progress.

 

[karmypolitics]

The only real advantage of rockbox that I ever noticed was gapless playback. If you have a gapless capable ipod, I'd recommend sticking with the original firmware.

 

[K2Grey]

I find the filetree system and gapless playback to be useful. The battery life is a bit annoying though.

Now that the iPod firmwares support gapless playback, it may be worth considering moving back to Apple firmware. But I doubt I will do that.

 

[TheMarchingMule]

Rockbox is worth it alone just to have those sweet-looking WPS's on your iPod, and all the n00bs say stuff like (and these are actual quotes):

How'd you get your font so small?

Why is the screen black?

OMG what did you do to your iPod?

How'd you get that on there?

Woah, you can put any picture on there?

That's ugly.

 

[bigshot]

Gapless playback was the only thing that interested me, but Rockbox has terrible integration with Mac, so I gave up on it.

See ya
Steve

 

[itim100]

Some "real" advantages of rockbox that should be mentioned are that rockbox can play a much wider range of codecs, and that it allows for UMS compatible transfer of songs (and anything else). For some of us, control is important, and transcoding everything (if you have large amounts of flac encodes) to alac is laughable.

 

[astranovus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by itim100 Some "real" advantages of rockbox that should be mentioned are that rockbox can play a much wider range of codecs, and that it allows for UMS compatible transfer of songs (and anything else). For some of us, control is important, and transcoding everything (if you have large amounts of flac encodes) to alac is laughable.

i never get why people prefer flac to alac,
alacs are usually smaller than flacs, when used on the same file.

plus nobody can guarantee you, that flac will outlive alac

 

[camille]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot Gapless playback was the only thing that interested me, but Rockbox has terrible integration with Mac, so I gave up on it. See ya Steve

ditto. you'd have to go through a whole lot of hoops to get rockbox working if you're a Mac user; not worth it. still waiting for Apple to release a firmware update for 4G iPods (but i'm not holding my breath to that either)

 

[solvexyz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by astranovus i never get why people prefer flac to alac, alacs are usually smaller than flacs, when used on the same file. plus nobody can guarantee you, that flac will outlive alac

it seems rockbox flac decoder is better tuned than the alac decoder. Same songs encoded in flac and alac, the flac sounds better.

 

[solvexyz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by astranovus i never get why people prefer flac to alac, alacs are usually smaller than flacs, when used on the same file. plus nobody can guarantee you, that flac will outlive alac

it seems rockbox flac decoder is better tuned than the alac decoder. Same songs encoded in flac and alac, the flac sounds better, IMO. Anyone else noticed this?