Rockbox back on Cnet--written review

[Mikerman]

Rockbox has been picked up by Cnet at cnet.com again, this time in a written review (the last was a video review) entitled, "Rockbox sets your music free," dated November 15, 2007.  I found the article to be fair and fairly accurate (as versus one of the dated comments).  It tends to focus on installation and the appearance of the screen, although also discussing the EQ and other advances--perhaps that will get people in the door to note all the other technological advances.  And congratulations to the developers of the pictured screens!

http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-9818786-12.html?tag=cnetfd.mt

My favorite lines in the article:

• If you have an MP3 player but--to put it mildly--think its operating system leaves a lot to be desired, there is a way to make that player rock out with Rockbox. Open-source and free, Rockbox is downloadable firmware for your MP3 player that represents a big leap for audiophiles who want to control how they use their portable devices.
  
  
• So that's how you get it to work. Here's what it does, besides kick the butt of every MP3 player OS I've ever had the misfortune of using.
  
  
• Although the installation is challenging and once installed Rockbox presents a bit of a learning curve, I think it makes an excellent challenge for audiophiles who feel constrained by using default settings.
  
  

[Mad Cow]

Publicity is always good, but I hope this won't bring more people that go directly to the forums without reading the manual. Kinda weird how it didn't mention how it supports almost any audio format and it's audio playback abilities.

[Mikerman]

The article definitely is "visually attracted."  

I did wonder about the possibility of the influx of new devotees and, looking at the opening Rockbox webpage, wondered if there should be a link at the top (perhaps right below the current "Why should you run Rockbox? Click here to find out" line), along the lines of,

"New to Rockbox?  Click here to find out all you need to initially know to install and use Rockbox."

And then have that link to an introductory Rockbox webpage which likely already exists, instructing folks to, among other things, read the appropriate manual for all the information they need, initially, to install and use Rockbox, and providing a "hierarchy" of sources to consult for this:  the manual; the Wiki; the forums.  Or perhaps this could be merged into the "Why should you run Rockbox?" webpage.

I tried to locate an introductory page of this type and found the "Why should you run Rockbox?" webpage which is very informative; is there a similar such page with intial "welcome" instructions?  (I didn't see one of the type outlined above, in an initial search.)  Or perhaps this could be merged into the "Why should you run Rockbox?" webpage and the link to it amended to something along the lines of, "Why should you run Rockbox? Click here to find out, and how to start."  Just initial thoughts.

[AlexP]

Were you to write one I don't think you would find any opposition, but people already can't seem to read/find either the manual link on the side of every page, or the list of supported models on the front page.

Still, we can try!

[LambdaCalculus]

people already can't seem to read/find either the manual link on the side of every page, or the list of supported models on the front page.

Is that because most of the kids that come by are just too lazy to look, or can't be bothered to because "they know what they're doing"?  

[PaulPosition]

The latter, of course. It's the Ikea Syndrome.

Maybe you should do like old computer games and ask what's the [nn]th word on line [xx] of page [yy] before letting them in.

[Chronon]

Nice!  I remember having to do that.  A manual dependent cipher!

[countach]

Congratulations again, but as in the last cnet review, they missed the -for me- most important fact of Rockbox:

The ability to play mp3 files directly from the FAT32  filesystem plus folder navigation, m3u and cue support, of course.


Plus, they talk about cover art and stuff that it's only in non supported builds, so this will make harder to some people the proper setup of they system as they may want.

[AlexP]

Cover art is now in SVN, and has been since 11/11/2007

[Chronon]

I agree that it misses some of the more important (to me!) features, including managing your files any way you want, crossfeed, etc.  The author also confuses what is and isn't a plugin a bit.

However, album art is now included in SVN.  I didn't notice anything else in the way of unsupported functionality mentioned in the article.  (BigBambi beat me to it.)

[countach]

Cover art is now in SVN, and has been since 11/11/2007

Oh no! I haven't checked the status in several days!

Thanks!

[MarcGuay]

wondered if there should be a link at the top (perhaps right below the current "Why should you run Rockbox? Click here to find out" line), along the lines of,

"New to Rockbox?  Click here to find out all you need to initially know to install and use Rockbox."

I've done a little work along these lines on the Port pages (Sansa e200, c200, iAudio).  When I first got here I went to the "in development" link on the frontpage, then to the Sansa e200 port page.  Not sure how common a route that is but anyway, I figure having a big "How to Install" section at the header of those pages might help to send some people in the right direction, and just to generally clean them up a bit and make them a one-stop-shop for each player.  I've kind of run out of steam on it though, if anyone wants to continue the mission...

Marc

[cool_walking_]

people already can't seem to read/find either the manual link on the side of every page, or the list of supported models on the front page.

Is that because most of the kids that come by are just too lazy to look, or can't be bothered to because "they know what they're doing"?  

Mind Of A Madman: Delving Into The Psyche Of A Rockbox.org Visitor.

I still remember what was going through my head the first time I happened across rockbox.org.  It was a simpler time then.  I was young and carefree, the world was my oyster.  But that would all change one fateful day. Now come with me on a journey into the Mind Of A Madman.

I saw the list of supported players, but years of web surfing has led me to take anything on the front page with a grain of salt, as the front page seems to be the least-updated page on software projects.  It seems to be a "write once, leave there forever" affair.

The various links under "documentation" (manual, wiki, index) led me to think "Why so many forms of documentation? Great, surely the one I pick to read is the out-of-date one."  Ooh, a forum - guaranteed up-to-date information.  Then I recalled some text accompanying the link leading me to Rockbox. Something along the lines of "The devs are very insistant that you read the manual. Read the manual. Read it. Now. Read the manual.", so I went off to read the manual, and what could have been a spate of stupid questions on my end, were (I think) averted.  I have shared my story with you, dear readers, so that you may benefit from it's chilling message.

Of course there are always people who will never RTFM, but for people like me, I think we just need some assurance that the information we are about to commit to spending time reading, is actually current.

I think we simply need a "Read the manual. Read it. We're very serious. Read the manual." on the frontpage, and perhaps a fake "last updated" date that is just set to [today-3] (gotta make it believable), so people "know" the front page is up to date.

EDIT: this board doesn't like angle brackets...

[Llorean]

The front page has a "Last Updated" date on it. That's real.

[cool_walking_]

Never seen that before. It's tiny, and right at the bottom of the page...