3 Years ago I evicted Steve Jobs from my iPOD

ecandle

There's hope for you yet Russell
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maybe for fun consider an old Gen 4 20 Gig iPod for under 100 bucks and overwrite it with Rockbox freeware , I manage and listen to my mobile music play lists in file folders just like you would on your PC ( no skins-cover art -genre frills ) however tons of EQ , listening mode adjustments and level meters. My music is stored and replayed in lossy flac format . I will never go back :music:

anybody interested in this I would love to help them out . :smoke:
 
Sure, please tell me about how you did this and also, can you connect to both PCs and Macs?

I use some software to get around the iTunes only interface, and would welcome learning about any other possibilities.
 
Sure, please tell me about how you did this and also, can you connect to both PCs and Macs?

I use some software to get around the iTunes only interface, and would welcome learning about any other possibilities.
you bet , take a look at the rockbox.org site and choose the firmware that fits your situation best , I use the gen4 iPod as I understand it was overbuilt and has a Wolfsan DAC on board . I use now an output cord that plugs into to the business port on the bottom that allows for standard line level output .This is my next purchase from aloaudio.com , read the iMod FAQ they will send you back a cracked iPod that takes the source output connection right to the DAC . :yes:
 
I'd like to figure a way to do similar for my iPhone...without affecting the rest of its operation of course.
 
I'd like to figure a way to do similar for my iPhone...without affecting the rest of its operation of course.

ouch ... not sure I would do that myself ...:tears:

I would only do this for older rigs that don't have cover flow and all the money features on board just from an eye candy and resale perspective, Although I hate all the itunes and genre sorting. I have one iPod that actually has both OS on it ....double button press is rock box OS , a single is iPod so you can run both but I never use the iPod OS ever,
 
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Here is a very good way to get started , buy an iriver ( specifcally the iRiver iHP-120 ) this is a killer player that can be rockboxed to handle line level in recording and source output , I have 3 of these , I use them to record live wav at concerts and listen to flac , transport and enjoy any mp3, flac, wavfiles , just drag your files over like you would windows and you are rolling in 30 mins.
 
I am with you man. Rockbox kicks the living crap out of the iPod OS. I am getting a 1TB hard drive for Xmas and going to rip my CDs to FLAC. I plan on dumping as much stuff on my 30Gb iPod, shutting off the computer and basking in rich loosless audio.
 
I love Rockbox, and like you, am running it on a 20gb 4th gen. I have a 40gb 4th gen, but the click wheel is acting up on me.

Rockbox FTW
 
I used Rockbox on my ipod til I got interested in the iPodLinux Project and was happy with either over stock firmware .
my problem was all of my ipods died due to bad hardware and now are part of my broken ipod collection.lol .
so for portable use I have either my HI-MD minidisc or my mp3 players also made by Sony ,they are bullet proof .
I liked my ipods but they are just made way too cheap .
but if you still have a working ipod Rockbox or iPodLinux Project are both great and support Flac
 
I used Rockbox on my ipod til I got interested in the iPodLinux Project and was happy with either over stock firmware .
my problem was all of my ipods died due to bad hardware and now are part of my broken ipod collection.lol .
so for portable use I have either my HI-MD minidisc or my mp3 players also made by Sony ,they are bullet proof .
I liked my ipods but they are just made way too cheap .
but if you still have a working ipod Rockbox or iPodLinux Project are both great and support Flac

to be quite honest I have 3 Rocked iRiver ( IHP120 ) 20 gig units that I use far more that my Rocked iPod , they are cheap and bullet proof units.:yes:
 
I've been considering using Rockbox on my 4 gig Toshiba Gigabeat as I can't get any new music on it. I lost the original disk and Toshiba for some reason has decided to kill any versions online. Besides, Rockbox will allow me to watch video and I believe save pictures right from my camera... and actually look at them, unlike the Toshiba crapware.

How foolproof is installing it? I love my player and would hate to brick it.
 
I've been considering using Rockbox on my 4 gig Toshiba Gigabeat as I can't get any new music on it. I lost the original disk and Toshiba for some reason has decided to kill any versions online. Besides, Rockbox will allow me to watch video and I believe save pictures right from my camera... and actually look at them, unlike the Toshiba crapware.

How foolproof is installing it? I love my player and would hate to brick it.

http://build.rockbox.org/ , looks like they have the firm for your unit , all the way at the bottom:scratch2: One of the challenges however you will have is storage of lossy files on a 4 gig disc. Just to give you an idea as to what I am saying or trying to say in regards to storage vs compression rate , of course this is entirely contingent upon the track/s you choose to conduct this survey , so let's just say ( approximate )

MP3 compressed at 320 will allow approximately 900 files to be stored on a 4 gig disc.
flac. approximately 200 files to be stored on a 4 gig disc
wav. approximately 100 files to be stored on a 4 gig disc
 
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I had a 30gig Late 5th gen iPod that I put Rockbox on, in fact, I specifically bought it FOR Rockbox. I used the crap out of that player till it got stolen out of my truck.

Rockbox is just, a great piece of software. It's a billion times more flexable and does more than most of the crap-ware that comes preinstalled on players.

I recently bought a Toshiba Gigabeat S60...specifically for Rockbox. I plan on upgrading the battery and throwing a 120GB drive in it soon. I do carry FLAC around...quite a bit actually.

Tube King: Rockbox does not have complete support for interfaces, in the case of the ipod...they hadn't reverse engineered ANY of the remote protocols. You often lose SOME functions like that...but the benefits outweigh it. But if you rely on an integrated dock that displays all the information and lets you control from the head unit...then rockbox isn't for you to begin with.
 
are you wanting to manage your music on the face of your deck? or just play thru the deck :scratch2:

Manage the music through the deck.

Tube King: Rockbox does not have complete support for interfaces, in the case of the ipod...they hadn't reverse engineered ANY of the remote protocols. You often lose SOME functions like that...but the benefits outweigh it. But if you rely on an integrated dock that displays all the information and lets you control from the head unit...then rockbox isn't for you to begin with.

Good to know. My wife has an I-Pod specific Alpine in her car even though we don't own an I pod. I was thinking about purchasing an I-Pod for her this Christmas. We both HATE I tunes and Apple interfaces so I was hoping she could retain the head unit functions with Rockbox. The head unit already controls her satellite radio, CD Changer, and HD Radio. I figured I pod would be a nice addition and putting all the controls in one spot is convenient and safe. She can change sources, channels, etc etc without even looking down. I would like to retain that type of interface for her.
 
http://build.rockbox.org/ , looks like they have the firm for your unit , all the way at the bottom:scratch2: One of the challenges however you will have is storage of lossy files on a 4 gig disc. Just to give you an idea as to what I am saying or trying to say in regards to storage vs compression rate , of course this is entirely contingent upon the track/s you choose to conduct this survey , so let's just say ( approximate )

MP3 compressed at 320 will allow approximately 900 files to be stored on a 4 gig disc.
flac. approximately 200 files to be stored on a 4 gig disc
wav. approximately 100 files to be stored on a 4 gig disc

oops, it's a 40 gig Gigabeat. I ended up installing it and I like what I see so far. Just messing with the interface is great. As an aside, the games are a fun time waster as well.

One odd thing is I saved all my music from the Toshiba software and as I did it, Vista unconverted it from the crappy .SAT format back to mp3, so I can still use the tunes I can't rerip and convert to flac. It was odd because last time I made a backup of my files it only took a couple of minutes and they saved as .SAT files. This time took 7 hours and they saved as mp3. Odd.
 
I have no idea about anything with .SAT files and mp3 conversion or how that happened...but...despite the extra time I say congrats.

My gigabeat is the S model, the one that somewhat became the Zune a short time later...so it didn't really use the Toshiba stuff but was a Windows Media powered device...even though I've got a disc that came with it...when I first plugged it in...all kinds of stuff gladly asked if i wanted it to manage the media collection...and being an MTP device, that's about what I expected. Even my ubuntu install popped up with MTP client software. I never actually tried any of the software...all I ever did with the original firmware was boot it up and look at it and go "eww". But unlike the older gigabeats which used toshiba's stuff..the s specifically is an MTP device...which I'm sure probably changes things.

despite that, the gigabeats have been touted as some of the best devices to run Rockbox on. since you stated you have a 40 gig...it'd almost have to be an F as the 40 gig was dropped with the X models. But it's got a 300mhz ARM core...32MB ram..wolfson WM8751L dac...it's a pretty beefy unit for running Rockbox...most ports in the past were generally with less powerful hardware (i think...too much research). My S has a beffier ARM cpu and more ram...but even then Rockbox apparently only runs the CPU at around 250Mhz (it's capable of 533). I had an iPod 5.5 30gig in the past...and it was a portalplayer based unit that had a dual-core arm cpu...but they only clocked them at around 75mhz (although for a while I had it overclocked to 90) and it struggled to do some things.

as far as SAT files go...according to the research i stumbled upon when looking up gigabeat specs...it's an encrypted wrapper for the mp3...why vista did this conversion for you...i have no idea...i'm kind of blinking in surprise on that one.

She can change sources, channels, etc etc without even looking down. I would like to retain that type of interface for her.

yeah, rockbox isn't for you then. Mind you, back when I had my ipod...they had no information on the serial interface. This was about 2 years ago. I just checked the status and they've written a serial port driver and some accessory protocol have been documented....but I don't know how much and to what degree it works...it's not fully functional. as stated, you'd have to find an older ipod on ebay in order to run rockbox on it.

http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/IpodPort is the best source for information on what rockbox can do on what ipod. At the bottom under other pages of interest, there's a link to the ipodstatus which will give more indepth information. Actually, if you search the wiki you can find very similar pages for all targets and even information on the status of attepted ports.

It's not a piece of software for everyone..it has some very odd ways of working that take some getting used to, especially if you're used to using an iPod already. It took me a couple of days to learn it with no prior knowledge of how newer media players interfaces worked (i'd used an ipod for maybe a total of 20 minutes)...and of all the friends of mine that tried to play with it...the one that hadn't ever owned or used an ipod figured it out where the ipod users got confused and angry. It does however completely break the ipod hardware free of the apple imposed restrictions and turns it in to a very nice flexable piece of hardware, much like it does to any unit you stick it on.
 
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