Is RockBox Right for Me?

[coinich]

I have a Sansa c250 (don't know the version and can't check at the moment) and I want to know if RockBox is right for me.  Does it replace the original firmware, or are they both on the player at the same time?  Can I easily remove games and demos (what are demos exactly?) for space reasons?  I use my player largely for music, so I would want to keep the music and radio features.  I want to cram as much music as I can on the 4G (2 MicroSD) that I have.  Can RockBox also play clips?  There is a special procedure to charge the player via USB?  I'm sorry if these have been answered in other places; I've tried looking.

Is this http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=18242.0 anything I should look into?

coin

[LambdaCalculus]

Check out our "Why Rockbox?" page:

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/WhyRockbox

That link you gave is for an unofficial build. If you decide to use that, you can't ask for support here on the main forums; all questions about the build have to be asked on that thread.

[coinich]

Check out our "Why Rockbox?" page:

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/WhyRockbox

That link you gave is for an unofficial build. If you decide to use that, you can't ask for support here on the main forums; all questions about the build have to be asked on that thread.

Alright, thanks for the link.  I've checked that out, before and after I posted, and I do like some of the features.  My question is a bit oriented more towards memory constraints; I still don't know exactly if the old firmware is removed, and if there is better memory storage than the old firmware.  I was also wondering if any similar users had similar expectations and their opinions on RockBox.

Oh boy, I sound so stuffy saying all this...

[gevaerts]

The original firmware is still there, and you can start it by holding the right key on power-up

You can remove games and demos if you like, but rockbox uses only about 5 megabytes in total anyway.

As for what demos are, have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demo_(computer_programming)

[Daveybaby]

If storage is getting tight on your player, then it's probably worth bearing in mind that rockbox supports microSDHC cards. I just bought a 16GB card for my e280, so i now have a 24GB player.

Just one more reason to choose rockbox.

[astro2]

If storage is getting tight on your player, then it's probably worth bearing in mind that rockbox supports microSDHC cards. I just bought a 16GB card for my e280, so i now have a 24GB player.

Just one more reason to choose rockbox.

no offence to rockbox creators, my hats off for such a good project but...

depends what device you have and how you use it i suppose, i mean i originally didn't know about it and only found out about it on youtube where it talks about a gameboy emulator for ipods.

turns out the idea of rockbox is bigger then that, its phenomenal, but after i had time to learn about it, i got a little discontent, sure you can bypass itunes (if your using a ipod that is) but devices which low cpu/ram run poorly for media and emulators

then we move on to music, you can't view art and i heard you need plugins to look at lyrics

upside to rockbox is you can fastforward or rewind quicker on songs, but you can't hear it as it moves meaning you may go past your fave section of the song (not super important i admit)

[soap]

but devices which low cpu/ram run poorly for media and emulators

Yes, the iPods have a slow CPU and don't run the Game Boy emulator at full speed for many games.  Does the original firmware offer one at all?

then we move on to music, you can't view art and i heard you need plugins to look at lyrics

You surely can view album art. and again, does the Apple original firmware show lyrics at all?

upside to rockbox is you can fastforward or rewind quicker on songs, but you can't hear it as it moves meaning you may go past your fave section of the song (not super important i admit)

Does your original firmware offer a five band parametric equalizer?  Crossfeed?  Industry standard Replay Gain?  Last.FM support?  Customizable interface?  Cue sheet support?  I could go on and on.  I think there are far more upsides than "faster fast forward and rewind".

[gevaerts]

sure you can bypass itunes (if your using a ipod that is) but devices which low cpu/ram run poorly for media and emulators

Do the emulators run faster in the apple firmware? Have you tried to view mpg files on anything but an ipod video in rockbox?

then we move on to music, you can't view art

Yes you can