[LizardKing1]

I got a Clip 4Gb a few weeks ago, and I read about how awesome Rockbox was said to be. So today I downloaded it and tried installing it.
 
And failed.
 
Apparently you need to have a certain version of the Clip's original firmware (even if you never again use it in your life, which is why you would want Rockbox in the first place). That's like Open Office asking me for a copy of Microsoft Office during install. What's bad is that I had installed the latest version of the original firmware, and it wasn't supported by Rockbox. Lovely. So I had to download it from AnythingButIpod's forum. And after a few instal screens, I finally had it.
 
Then you're carried into what is supposed to be an UI. But it's the worst thing conceivable. I would have to try really hard to create a worse UI. The original UI was actually really good and simple. You wouldn't get lost, everything was just there. But with Rockbox, you have about about 8 different menus. The Settings alone has 3 different menus, each with what would appear to any Homo Sapiens Sapiens to be the same category of settings - I'm still wondering why "Themes" and "Display" are different enough to deserve seperate menus. To the people who actually say Rockbox gives you a much better UI, I wonder if we've been using the same player. But oh well, it's all about music isn't it?
 
But that gets screwed up too. Because with Rockbox, after you create a Database, you realize the file settings you tried to hard to create get changed. Suddenly new music Genres you didn't even have show up. You know when you download a music file and you rename it from whatever it was to [track number] - [track name]? Well no more! Reset settings for everyone!
 
So you might think "oh well, I'll just plug it into the computer and change those back with my syncing software". And that's when you make the worse discovery of all. Rockbox hates you. Rockbox isn't done with you. Rockbox wants to see you cry. So Rockbox apparently transported all your music into another dimension Narnia, so when you open up the Clip+ drive on your computer you find out that even though it says to have 3.7Gb of the drive occupied, the total files only ammount to less than 200Mb. Your music is unreachable, but it's still there. And you can listen to it on the player, if you manage to find your way across the special-needs UI, but you just can't change your music.
 
Then there's the Quick Screen. If by this point you're still thinking "it's not that bad", you might want to see the Quick Screen. Because there's not much to see. It basically lets you scroll across your folders - without being able to go into them, which is genious - and change 2 settings: shuffle and repeat. That's it. If you want to get rid of it for the sake of simplicity, you can't.
 
For those of you wondering why I even downloaded Rockbox, it was for the equalizer, which was said to be much better. I don't know, I haven't tried. I will probably unninstall Rockbox, which was a shame, because I really wanted the best possible sound with the best EQ I could get. But I'm just not sure it's worth it. At this point I can't even remove my music from the player, so I will probably have to uninstall Rockbox, remove my music, and maybe reinstall it. Maybe.
 
PS: I know why I have the music that way. It's on a different transfer mode, MSC vs MTP. But why make my music files disappear? And also, why can't I change my transfer mode settings? Maybe there's such an ability I have missed amidst the Daedalus of settings menus, but I don't think so. Input and help is greatly appreciated.

 

[LizardKing1]

Update: today I tried them out. While the EQ is really good, what sucks the most is not being able to put it on Hold. Any little touch can stop the music or make it go into Quick Screen *shivers*
 
Any help? I really don't know how to get my music back unless by uninstalling Rockbox. 

 

[superrab]

You can lock the controls while you're on the Rockbox "now playing" screen by pushing the big middle button and the home button at the same time; depending on your theme you'll probably see a little lock icon show up or something like that.

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

PS: I know why I have the music that way. It's on a different transfer mode, MSC vs MTP. But why make my music files disappear? And also, why can't I change my transfer mode settings? Maybe there's such an ability I have missed amidst the Daedalus of settings menus, but I don't think so. Input and help is greatly appreciated.

That disappearing music is a failing of the OF, not Rockbox. You can't change that transfer mode setting in Rockbox either.....it is only in the OF. Boot the player into the OF, connect to the computer, remove the music. Disconnect, then switch the setting to MSC. Then, reload your music.
 
And you can browse by folders and not use a database, if you so desire.

 

[LizardKing1]

Thank you both!
 
I actually found the database better than browsing through folders. It felt more modern xD
 
Do you know if there's anyway to change the macros on the RB? I mean instead of having to press 2 buttons, I could set it to lock by a long press of Home?

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

Thank you both!
 
I actually found the database better than browsing through folders. It felt more modern xD
 
Do you know if there's anyway to change the macros on the RB? I mean instead of having to press 2 buttons, I could set it to lock by a long press of Home?

If you prefer the database, then make sure your ID3 tags are accurate.
Don't know about the macros....I've never used the Hold feature either way. I clip the player somewhere where it is out of the way...my shirt pocket. No accidental button pushes there.

 

[ri_toast]

you can always leave rockbox on the player and dual boot. press and hold the left button while you press the power switch. i use the original sansa for audio book and rockbox for music. the sansa boot remembers my place in the audiobook file. as far as eq goes try reducing stereo width to around 80 or so; to me, music seems a little more natural; then switch off and on from stereo to custom to test the setting. there's so many settings in the eq section most of them are subtle but all are reverseable with the reset function. cfg files are editable on a computer btw.
heres a link i found interesting: http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,28456.0.html
 
the clip+ is my second rockbox player, i used cfgs from the fuze and dropped them right into the clip+
rockbox isn't for everyone and i'm ok with that. pretty amazing what the authors wrote and how capable the player is.