automaticable

Recently I felt that my ipod was going a bit stale.  We have outlined ways to improve your ipod before, but my problem is a bit different.  I have a 4GB ipod nano, so I am limited to having only a fraction of my music collection on the device at any given time.  My strategy until late has been to unload what I am getting the most sick of as I get new music.  Although this has worked fairly well so far, I feel like I am hearing the same music over and over again.  So it is time for a change.

My solution here has been to go old school with my ipod.  I wiped out the contents of my ipod completely and imported all of my favorite music from high school and a bit from the first year or 2 of college.  So far it has been absolutely wonderful.  Putting my ipod on shuffle keeps me on my toes not knowing what is coming next.  Most of these songs I literally have not listened to in years, so it is really good to hear them again.

There are definitely some downsides to this though.  Back in the early years of online music sharing, quality recordings were hard to find.  Many of my favorite bands were introduced to me through super low quality recordings, and many of these albums are so old and obscure that I doubt that will ever change.  Because of this I have been having volume issues, with lower quality tracks requiring a higher volume to rock out to.

Other than volume issues and some really bad songs slipping in here and there, I feel this has been a good decision.  I don’t know how long these songs will last on my ipod as my musical tastes have changed a bit since high school, but for now it is a good thing.

So automaticable, what are your strategies for keeping your music fresh?  I would especially appreciate tips from anyone who has an ipod with limited space like mine, though the same idea can probably be fixed through different playlists on larger ipods.

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I’m sure that you have noticed that now-a-days almost everything can be found in an open-source version. Everything from software for your computer, to textbooks for school can be found free and open source. Now you can even get the awesome perks of open source on your very own iPod!

Rockbox is open source firmware for your iPod, or many other types of mp3 players. This means that everything is free, new, and extremely customizable. Rockbox has everything from awesome themes, to an iPod version of Doom. With Rockbox the limits of your pocket music player are endless!

Installing Rockbox on your mp3 player is fairly simple. You can either go the automated route, or the manual route. Personally, I went the automated route, even though it is not guaranteed safe. In most cases, it is still probably safer than digging around in your iPod’s file system. To get the automated installer go here. Then installing is as simple as running the file, choosing your player, and pressing go!

Upon starting up my iPod (4th Gen Grayscale, and uber old) I found that the Rockbox display was pretty bland. This was a pretty quick fix, though. Simply go to the settings menu and choose one of the many pre-made themes for your player. You can also choose from different sizes and different fonts in your settings menu.

The interface while playing music with Rockbox, although odd when first starting with it, is actually pretty great. It displays all of your track info, including artist name, song name, album name, next song, and other information about your kbps on the current song. By holding down the Menu button it takes you to an easy to use interface for choosing your shuffle, repeat, and other listening settings.

For all of you people that are not just contented by just listening to music wherever you go, Rockbox also comes with tons of games. You can play everything from dice, to chess, to Doom! Simply go to Plugins > Games and choose your favorite game. For most games, your music will continue to play while you play the games.

Open source things, although usually pretty good, are not entirely without flaws. Twice in my three days of using Rockbox, I found that it was saying I had run out of battery. After getting this message I would have to do a manual restart (menu + select for 6 seconds) and it would restart just fine. If you find that you can’t get Rockbox working, it is fairly simple to get back to the original firmware. Turn off your player, and turn it on. As soon as it turns on switch on the hold button and it should restart to the original firmware.

The Breakdown:
Pros:
- Open Source goodness ensures easy customization.
- Themes, fonts, and sounds for every personality out there
- Easy installation, and just as easy uninstallation
- Plenty of documentation on the website, if you get stuck

Cons:
- Having two seperate firmwares will use extra space
- Seems to have bugs telling how much battery is remaining
- Many themes have an odd number-based volume display
- Although it won’t break your warranty, you will not be able to get any support while you are running Rockbox

All in all, Rockbox is definately worthwhile if you want to get away from the crowd, and make your mp3 player very personalized. Easy installation, easy customization, and easy interface makes it a win win win decision. Check out http://www.rockbox.org/ to get started.