New to RockBox and ipod

[TexasRockbox]

Hello,

My first experience with Rockbox and ipod -- a newb from the word "go".  I've used the Archos AV500 and various Sony MiniDics units.  I wanted a large capacity player that would play Vorbis files.  The ipod Video 80GB and Rockbox seems to be the ideal fit and I am extremely happy with the choice.   Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I didn't even try out the original ipod firmware so I would:

1. Not develop habits that would make Rockbox seem weird.
2. Not ask questions such as "Why doesn't Rockbox do x like ipod does?"

I have a recent build for ipod Video 80GB (070704) and have a few questions:

1. Regarding the battery charge / indicator.  I don't have a clear understanding about it.  Is the indicator erratic only with the WPS or the player in general?  Is the dimmed white screen with the "Do not disconnect" recharging battery indicator correct?  Can that one be depended on to be correct?

2. From some of the searches, I understand the the LCD backlight cannot be dimmed -- it's either "on" or "off".  Correct?  If not correct, can it be changed and we just haven't figured it out yet?

3. There is a way to change directories (albums or artists) directly --  or are the options to either use the "auto change directory feature" at the last track in the directory or manually back out of the directory and then select artist/album.

4. The Apple FM/remote will not work with Rockbox.  Correct?  I've done a little searching.  Is there a good external/portable FM tuner attachable that is not dependent on the OS or Rockbox?

I'm using "Black Glass (non-album Art) " as a theme and it is very nice.  It does seem to have a slight coding error:  On the bottom right there is a "cH" for current hour and "CM" for current minute.  It should read "cM" instead.

Again, thanks, and I'm glad to be part of the Rockbox community.

Paul

[tdtooke]

1. Can you be more specific on what you mean by erratic, and that do not disconnect screen you're getting isn't really rockbox, that's the ipod firmware in disc mode.  Rockbox uses that to connect to your computer.

2. I don't believe that the backlight brightness can be adjusted in the official build, there is a patch for this though but since you're beginning I recommend using a prebuilt unofficial build if that feature is really important to you.

3. No idea what you mean here.  At the end of the last track in a playlist or album you get sent back to that album which is just a few back clicks away from getting back into artist.  Is that a problem?

4. The apple remote does not work with rockbox, I don't know if there is something like that not dependent on the stock firmware, somebody else here is bound to know though.

[TexasRockbox]

Thank you for the response.

1. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but what I'm referring to is the Battery section in the wiki FAQ.  http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/BatteryFAQ  Maybe the questions are mostly intended for the Archos?

2. Not extremely important at this point.  I was able to change the Archos AV500 backlight and always kept it at the lowest setting.  The ipod just seems blazingly bright in comparison -- I'll get used to it, though it would seem to be less of drain on the battery if the backlight intensity is decreased.

3. With certain players, say, the old iriver IMP-550 CD/MP3/OGG disc playrer, not only could I skip tracks one by one, I could also skip subdirectories (albums) one by one as each album had its own subdirectory on the disc.  I can click my way back to any album, no problem there, just inquiring if it were possible to skip subdirectories one by one as well.  Again, I'm new to ipod and Rockbox and trying to learn the incredible amount of options and their relation to the controls.  I think of organizing music as :\Artist\Album\Song.  I've never used or created playlists.  Sometimes I'll shuffle songs but, basically, I access particualar songs as desired so I end up navigating a lot.

4.  I've been looking at the FM possibilites.  Most appear to be attached to a fixed location docking port which I assume would not work with Rockbox.  No huge problem, though as I have other small, pocket FM radios.  Again, just trying to figure out the possibilities.

Thanks!

[tdtooke]

I still don't know what you mean about skipping songs and albums.  Around half my music is in ogg so I also have alotta things set up as artist/album/track.  I guess because I generally listen to entire albums and don't jump around alot I'm not the right person to try and answer this.

[Llorean]

I think to skip to the next folder you tap, release, then hold, next track. As I have never used this feature, I'm not sure if it's working properly any more, if that's the right keypress for iPods, etc, etc, but I seem to recall the feature existing, and I think I've accidentally triggered it once or twice on my Gigabeat.

[Falco98]

3. With certain players, say, the old iriver IMP-550 CD/MP3/OGG disc playrer, not only could I skip tracks one by one, I could also skip subdirectories (albums) one by one as each album had its own subdirectory on the disc.  I can click my way back to any album, no problem there, just inquiring if it were possible to skip subdirectories one by one as well.  Again, I'm new to ipod and Rockbox and trying to learn the incredible amount of options and their relation to the controls.  I think of organizing music as :\Artist\Album\Song.  I've never used or created playlists.  Sometimes I'll shuffle songs but, basically, I access particualar songs as desired so I end up navigating a lot.

I'm with you, in organizing music as \Artist\Album\Song (though for me, it's more like ":\Music\Artist\(Year) Album\Tracknum - Song", especially on my rockbox player, to keep all the "artist" folders out of root).  But yeah, I've never done playlists in the sense that iTunes and the iPod want you to.

That being said, I need to beg you to learn the way Rockbox uses playlists.  I kinda get what you want done, but you will be able to do things MUCH more easily if you get used to the dynamic playlist system.  Basically it lets you stack up individual songs, full albums, full folders of artists, or whatever you like, for on-the-fly listening.  You can even then take your careful selection of songs or artists and shuffle it, or not.  Really though, what I'm trying to say is that if you shift your thinking slightly, the dynamic playlists nearly negate all need for auto-folder-change, simply since you can plan ahead if you want, and even then you can skip through what you don't want to hear.  And it's easy enough to switch between the WPS and the file-view, that navigation shouldn't be a very big issue, i don't think.  Is there anything more specific you're trying to do?

[TexasRockbox]

Thanks again, everyone.

I'll work with the playlists and database, I've gone for so long without using them (though the Archos AV500 did build a database which I occasionally used).  It took a leap to get on board with the ipod and Rockbox, I can certainly take another leap with playlists and such.

I've been so busy trying to increase the ogg library and import it into the ipod and learn the navigation and reading the manual I really haven't had much of a chance to *listen* until last night.  I'm impressed.  Using some Sennheiser PX100 headphones the ipod/Rockbox/vorbis it all sounds very, very, good.