Rockbox Technical Forums

Rockbox General => Rockbox General Discussion => Topic started by: KevGP on May 30, 2017, 01:29:07 PM

Title: New Sandisk players?
Post by: KevGP on May 30, 2017, 01:29:07 PM
Hey guys,

I've been using a Sansa Clip Zip with Rockbox on it to listen to FM radio and record things off of FM. I liked it because it was nice and portable and I could take it anywhere.
However, my Clip Zip stopped working the other day, and in looking around the net I find that the player was discontinued by Sandisk. :( So I can't get a new one unless I want to spend an insane amount of money for the player online. I think Amazon has it listed for $99.99.


So my question is, which players are still being produced which have excellent FM radios and can be Rockboxed? I also have a Clip +, however the radio on it doesn't work well when compared to the old Clip Zip. I am a blind individual, which means I cannot see the player's screen, so Rockbox's voice guidance comes in extremely useful for me. I'm going to attempt upgrading the Clip + to the newest Rockbox, however I don't know if that will improve the radio on it or not.

It looks like Sandisk now has another player in the Clip line, the Clip Jam. However Rockbox doesn't yet support it unfortunately. A link to the player on the Sandisk website is below, if you guys would want more information on it or if you're interested in making a new Rockbox port. I don't have the coding knowledge to make a new port or I would do it myself.
https://www.sandisk.com/home/mp3-players/clip-jam

If that's not an option are there any other brands of MP3 players you have had experience with? Again, I primarily use those portable MP3 players for their FM radios, so any input would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
Title: Re: New Sandisk players?
Post by: saratoga on May 30, 2017, 03:05:06 PM
None of the new Sandisk players have enough RAM to run rockbox, so there won't be a port to them.
Title: Re: New Sandisk players?
Post by: KevGP on June 12, 2017, 06:07:46 PM
That's too bad. I appreciate your answer though. I'll look for another brand. Maybe I'll just get an Android phone in the future instead of my iPhone and use it's radio function. LOL unless Apple decides to add FM functionality.

Thanks
Title: Re: New Sandisk players?
Post by: duo8 on June 14, 2017, 02:08:44 PM
That's too bad. I appreciate your answer though. I'll look for another brand. Maybe I'll just get an Android phone in the future instead of my iPhone and use it's radio function. LOL unless Apple decides to add FM functionality.

Thanks
Actually it seems few devices these days have FM built-in. My last few phones didn't have it either.
You can get a Sony player. Some are supported and they all have FM I think.
Title: Re: New Sandisk players?
Post by: unprinted on June 21, 2017, 09:39:53 AM
in looking around the net I find that the player was discontinued by Sandisk. :( So I can't get a new one unless I want to spend an insane amount of money for the player online. I think Amazon has it listed for $99.99.

I think this is a tribute to the quality of Rockbox: the Sandisk players that can run it are a lot more expensive to buy than the ones that - annoyingly - cannot.
Title: Re: New Sandisk players?
Post by: dkone on July 25, 2017, 05:55:06 PM
I actually created an account to reply to unprinted comment.

I really don't think Sandisk bases their decisions around RockBox nor do I think they care about RB in the least.  They make their money selling hardware, not the OS that runs it.
 They switched to the new model that has less ram because it is cheaper for them to make and sell at the same price point.

The players that they have that support RB are more expensive because they are discontinued, so it is simple supply and demand.  Eventually you won't be able to get them at all.  This is not to discredit RB at all, I have it on my Clip + and will never use another player unless it runs RB.  I will probably bite the bullet and buy a Clip+ now because my current ones battery is going downhill quick.
Title: Re: New Sandisk players?
Post by: unprinted on December 05, 2017, 04:17:00 AM
Late reply, sorry, but my point was that *the market* values second hand Rockbox-able Sansa players more than new non-Rockbox-able ones.

Yes, that's demand and supply at work, but the reason for the demand is Rockbox because if you're just going to use the OF, you'd go for the new ones.
Title: Re: New Sandisk players?
Post by: bbildman on December 16, 2017, 01:16:46 PM
There is the Sandisk Fuze+ that you can sometimes get, it does have a Rockbox port to it.

https://www.rockbox.org/download/byhand.cgi
Title: Re: New Sandisk players?
Post by: gomezz on December 16, 2017, 02:27:24 PM
Touch controls are no good for me wearing gloves while working and needing an easy to find and use Play/Pause button.