Get rid of Rockbox on my Ipod?

[martinw89]

I've had my Ipod for over a year now. And, for that time minus a week, I've had Rockbox. I've followed the development closely and told many others to give it a try. But recently, I've started to be disappointed by stability and the poor user interface. I only have two main concerns: half of my music library (or more) is in Flac; I don't know how well Apple's firmware will work with Linux (I've tried iTunes on Windows and really don't like it). What is the community's opinion? Is it worth converting 20+ albums to Apple Lossless and converting back to Apple's firmware? Has anyone used the 5th generation with the newest firmware? Does it have any benefits over previous firmware versions?

[macogw]

Well I don't own an iPod, but I can tell you that it'll sync with AmaroK.

[Whiffle]

Yeah I had rockbox for a while too, I still like it but I had to delete it a while back and have been too lazy to put it back on. I had a different version that had the cpu scaling disabled so it stopped crashing, in which case it was way way way better than apples firmware.


But, yeah, Amarok will sync it for you and can automatically convert to mp3 for you.

[Sweet Spot]

I use ROCKbox exclusively with both my iRiver H120 and my iPod 5th gen 30 gig. I've experienced absolutely NO "stability issues" whatsoever, and would love to know what you're referring to actually. So you know, I've never used the EQ, and some people have claimed that using the hardware EQ has often led to instability in terms of how the audio is buffered, though it's been said that this hasn't been the case for a while now.

As far as the interface goes... there are some outstanding WPS's available now (simplex; simplex 2; Doc Pod remix; and don't forget the UBUNTU WPS ! :) ) Navigation has never been more easy/intuitive, but I do wish they'd stop trying to redesign the menu system on such a major level every time they revise it.....

I love my 5g and ROCKbox. I couldn't stand to use my iPod if it wasn't around.

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/ubuntu_menu.png

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/ubuntu_play.png

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/Simplex2_b-1.1.png

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/simplex2.png

[Whiffle]

I'm not sure which version the OP has, but the 4th gen grayscale ipods like to lock up hard at any given moment w/ the standard rockbox firmware. Its REALLY annoying because you have to reboot the darn thing so often. Its an issue with the CPU scaling that they use if i remember right. Getting a version with the scaling disabled prevents it from locking up.

[reclusivemonkey]

My girlfriend has a 6th(?) generation pink 4GB iPod Nano.

I have successfully got it working with almost everything;


I can transfer music to the iPod (including Artwork) with GTKPod
I can play music from the iPod with Banshee (Rhythmbox also works, but I prefer Banshee)
I can transfer pictures to the iPod with GPixPod
I can sync contacts/calendars via Evolution


I've not tried games, but she has a DS, so she's never going to play more games than are already on there.

I am really impressed with how Feisty copes with the iPod; I knew I would be able to get music on, but I never thought it would work as comprehensively as it does.

[martinw89]

I'm really not trying to start an Apple vs. Rockbox / Open vs. Closed fight.

Anyway, I should have clarified more. My issues:

About once every two days, I press menu and the iPod comes up with the dead battery icon. I have to hard reboot to get it to work again, it usually has more than half battery after rebooting
It does freeze occasionally, much less often than previous "battery icon" issue though
Songs can pause momentarily while playing. This is because I use an EQ but the EQ helps with my speaker's weak spots (too much mids).
And I have some great Themes with cool WPS,s but I meant I don't like the way the interface "feels". I know it's subjective, but I don't enjoy browsing around my music etc.

Has anyone else used both or have any other comments? So far it sounds like iPod works well with Linux. Does anyone know of a batch converter for Flac -> Apple Lossless?