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iPod 80Gb v5.5 questions - RMA it?
mwoody:
Let me start off by saying that, having used Rockbox for years on my Archos Jukebox, the work you guys are doing is fantastic. All the features I need in a solid, easy-to-use interface; I am a definite Rockbox fan. However, my old Archos is circling the drain, and as a replacement I - not reading the capatability page closely enough - picked up an 80Gb v5.5 iPod video from Amazon last week.
Obviously, I've since learned my mistake, and I've further discovered that the built-in iPod firmware is unacceptable. The inability to play songs based on my pre-existing directory format is a bafflingly stupid design decision, and the iTunes software makes my skin crawl, accustomed as I am to the simple drag-and-drop functionality of the Archos.
So before I request an RMA and get an iAudio X5 instead (complaints over the latter's construction quality and battery longetivity worry me), I have a couple quick questions. I apologize if this information is available elsewhere, but despite having used Rockbox for years, I'm not famliar with the sometimes confusing layout of this website - I never came looking for info because it always just worked. ^_^
- Is progress being made towards Rockbox being ported to the new iPod? Is it a matter of "if" it will get ported or "when"? I'd hate to hold on to this thing past the 30 day return window, only to discover there's no chance of EVER using Rockbox on it. Are we talking weeks, months, or years? I don't mean to hurry or deride the coders working on this at all, please don't get me wrong; I just need to know if I should hold on to this player and wait it out.
- Assuming that Rockbox will work on the new iPods like it did on the old ones, how similar will the process of getting files on and off of the device work be to the old Archos? Will I be able to just plug it in and treat it like a hard drive, or will I be tied to some crappy transfer utility like iTunes or WMP? Will Rockbox be able to take over the device completely, obliterating all signs of the accursed Apple firmware?
- Does Rockbox now or will it in the future support video playback?
Thanks in advance for the help in deciding where to go from here.
Llorean:
It's almost definitely a "When", though it's hard to predict how long of a when it is. There are a few people who've put quite a bit of research into it but so far all we've got are a list of things that *aren't* the problem.
As to your second question: It will be like your Archos had a scroll wheel, more storage, a color screen, and more format support. And worse battery life. (We're working on that one.) Yes, filetree browsing, drag and drop, all that are there.
Question the Third: Yes. On 5th Generation iPods, the retail firmware's video playback is far superior to ours, for the time being. We'll probably not be able to match it unless we magically get broadcom to give us some non NDA-wrapped documentation. And even then it may be iffy. But Rockbox is likely to support something in the range of 15-20 fps (wild guesses, a lot depends on how successful optimization is) MPEG1/2 video with MP3 audio (44.1khz only right now) video on it, once support is relatively complete. The framerates could end up being less or more than the range I've guessed, many factors could affect it.
mwoody:
Excellent; with that in mind, I think I'll hang on to my iPod. Thank you for your prompt and informative reply.
AlexP:
Bear in mind that whilst it is almost certainly a when as Llorean said, there is no time frame whatsoever attached to that. It could be tomorrow, it may be months, it just depends on when someone comes across the problem (and fixes it!)
BeeDub3:
Even when developers crack the code and find 80gb support it will be buggy at best. It will take a lot of time AFTER Rockbox is supported to be fully operational and virtually free of bugs. Thus, if Rockbox support comes tomorrow, it may be a month or two before it will run clean on an 80gb. :(
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