Ipod color photo and speech.

[Elara]

I'm new to Rockbox.  (Just installed it today.)  I wasn't certain if my question belonged in this forum, or the one regarding voice, so I hope I'm in the right place.

First, the basic information:
Player:  60GB Ipod color/photo
Rockbox Version:  Daily Build 12/08/2006
Voice Used:  MSMary English

Rockbox is installed and working on my Ipod.  It reads menus aloud perfectly, and spells or reads folder numbers perfectly as well.  I was trying to get it to read directory/file names using mp3 clips.  From the manual, I found/downloaded the Voicebox script, which said it would convert my directory/file names into *.talk directories automatically.  I ran the script, set the options, and set the path to the root directory for my Ipod.  The script ran with no errors, and, when I looked, the *.talk directories showed up in each folder on my Ipod.  I went into the voice menu, and set both directories and files to talk .mp3, and then rebooted my Ipod.  On the screen, things show up as Artist, Album, Genre, etc. and my artist names appear when I go to artist in the menu.  However, the voice only reads either numbers or spells the words.  Even though the settings remained on Talk .mp3 for both files and directories, Rockbox would only read folder numbers when it was set to talk .mp3.  Can someone please tell me what I did wrong, and perhaps help me correct my mistake?  I'm visually impaired, so having the Talk .mp3 feature working would be a huge benefit for me.  Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

Elara

[bascule]

I deduce that you are using the DataBase (nee Tag Cache) view to navigate through your files?

If that is the case, it will not work, because they are 'virtual' folders and there is currently no facility to voice those.

If you really need files and folders voiced, you will need to start browsing by them. Then the problem becomes an iTunes one. If you use iTunes to synchronise, you will have randomly named files and folders and your voicing will be unintelligible.

Please let us know how you are currently using your player and transferring music, so that we can help further.

[Elara]

Well, I do currently have it in the database view mode, but I've figured out how to change it to files.

As for how I'm currently using my player, well, that can be changed at this point.  Before I installed Rockbox, when it was just an Ipod that I couldn't use very well due to my vision, I put music on and took it off via ITunes.  However, that is not by any means a necessity.  If I go into Windows Explorer, I have 2 libraries to choose from.  The first is the directory and sub-directories that iTunes pulls from if I open it.  That one is organized into artist directories, with album directories under each artist.  I have the same thing, organized a different way.  Both should be organized well for file view mode.  I could, if I knew how, delete everything that iTunes had originally put on the player, with all of their strange names, put the new set of files on the player, though I don't know how to do that.  Can I just drag and drop from Windows Explorer?  Then I could run the Voicebox script again.  Does that sound like what I'm supposed to do?  If so, does anyone forsee any problems I should be on the lookout for?  Any other advice?  Have I missed something?  I really am a newbie here, so I'll take all the help anyone is willing/able to give.:-)

Elara

[bascule]

You are absolutely on the right track there.

I believe the iTunes folder structure is all located under a folder called System_Control or something similar (sorry, I don't have iTunes or an iPod).

If you delete that and then drag and drop your music folders onto the iPod, it should work perfectly.

As you said, you will need to run VoiceBox, either directly on the iPod, or on the folders on your PC before you drag and drop them over.

Best of luck - please let us know how you get on.

[Elara]

One other quick question, before I do something I might regret.  Now that I have Rockbox installed on my Ipod, and I just need to delete the old iTunes transferred music and put it back on without iTunes, can I use firewire for that?  The manual says that Rockbox does not support firewire, only USB, but my motherboard is having issues with its USB, and the firewire works perfectly.  Since my computer can see the Ipod, and can add/delete things to it using firewire, will that be ok?  Or, will anything done via firewire not work right?  (Just don't want to mess up what is turning out to be a beautiful thing here.)

Also, I believe that my Rockbox database is set to auto-update.  If that is the case, do I need to initialize it again anyway once I delete and re-transfer the music, or will it take care of all that for me?  Thanks so much for all the help!

Elara

[bascule]

...can I use firewire for that?  The manual says that Rockbox does not support firewire, only USB, but my motherboard is having issues with its USB, and the firewire works perfectly.  Since my computer can see the Ipod, and can add/delete things to it using firewire, will that be ok?  Or, will anything done via firewire not work right?  (Just don't want to mess up what is turning out to be a beautiful thing here.)

I'm sorry, I might have to leave that to someone else to answer, as my iPod hardware knowledge is non-existent. However, if Rockbox does not support Firewire, you must be using the Apple firmware to view the drive? If so, and it allows you to drag and drop straight onto the iPod as a mass storage device, then that should be fine.

Also, I believe that my Rockbox database is set to auto-update.  If that is the case, do I need to initialize it again anyway once I delete and re-transfer the music, or will it take care of all that for me?  Thanks so much for all the help!

It won't matter, because you will not be using the Database afterwards, only navigating by the File Browser.

Once it's working to your satisfaction, you can turn all the Database functions such as 'Auto Update' and 'Load To RAM' off to save memory (and therefore battery life).

[Llorean]

As far as "Rockbox doesn't support firewire" goes, all that means is that when you insert the firewire cable, Rockbox will not automatically reboot into Disk Mode. Since we still use Apple's disk mode, if you manually reboot into it, or into the Apple firmware, if your iPod supports firewire, firewire will still work.