jdong
September 3rd, 2007, 07:16 PM
Well, I needed a more portable player than my iPod Video for when I'm on the go. This time, I wanted something flash-based that would stand up to more abuse. Also, I've fallen in love with Rockbox's customizability, and wanted something with rockbox compatibility.
The best match for me was the Sansa series... picked up a e260 4GB unit for $80USD and loaded Rockbox on it.
Installing Rockbox was extremely easy -- there are instructions for doing it on Linux, Windows, and OS X, so all bases are covered.
Audio quality is good... It's not as fantastic as my iPod Video -- when the player is refilling its buffer every 20 minutes, you can hear a little bit of electrical noise for a few seconds. That is the only thing stopping me from calling the audio "excellent". Of course, in a unit of this size, electrical interference is almost an expected fact.
FM Radio and record features are excellent. I find myself recording the radio and when not using the player, then playing it back later on. (I also get the feeling that might not be legal :D)
As far as video, the Original Firmware's video abilities are pretty mediocre. It supports MJPEG in MOV containers at 15fps, which is IMO only good for short clips, not anything serious. In Rockbox, the Rockbox video player does mpeg-2 video and mp3 audio in 224x176 at 25fps just fine. I've tested loading up an hour of Mythbusters onto it, and it worked satisfactorily. The screen is small for extended video watching though.
Overall, it was a good spend of 80 bucks for me. Music loads on just like a USB thumb drive, and I've not had a single issue with compatibility with Windows, Linux, or OS X. Right now I'm customizing a rockbox build to my tastes, modeling it after the "cpchan" build, though I'm synchronized to the latest Subversion.
The best match for me was the Sansa series... picked up a e260 4GB unit for $80USD and loaded Rockbox on it.
Installing Rockbox was extremely easy -- there are instructions for doing it on Linux, Windows, and OS X, so all bases are covered.
Audio quality is good... It's not as fantastic as my iPod Video -- when the player is refilling its buffer every 20 minutes, you can hear a little bit of electrical noise for a few seconds. That is the only thing stopping me from calling the audio "excellent". Of course, in a unit of this size, electrical interference is almost an expected fact.
FM Radio and record features are excellent. I find myself recording the radio and when not using the player, then playing it back later on. (I also get the feeling that might not be legal :D)
As far as video, the Original Firmware's video abilities are pretty mediocre. It supports MJPEG in MOV containers at 15fps, which is IMO only good for short clips, not anything serious. In Rockbox, the Rockbox video player does mpeg-2 video and mp3 audio in 224x176 at 25fps just fine. I've tested loading up an hour of Mythbusters onto it, and it worked satisfactorily. The screen is small for extended video watching though.
Overall, it was a good spend of 80 bucks for me. Music loads on just like a USB thumb drive, and I've not had a single issue with compatibility with Windows, Linux, or OS X. Right now I'm customizing a rockbox build to my tastes, modeling it after the "cpchan" build, though I'm synchronized to the latest Subversion.