Will RockBox let a sansa E280 play WAV files?

[perry]

Hello, I am a songwriter and a WinXp user who just bought the sansa E280. It will not play WAV files which is a major drawback as I like to listen to my original works in progress on portable when I can.
I have no real use for mp3 etc., games, animated graphics, photos, videos, voice recorders, itunes, web access, play lists, EQ, dynamics expansion and so on. I just need to hear an EXACT copy of what I recorded in the studio.
Is the E200 rockbox layer designed to work with the e280?
I understand this is a new project for RB development. Are there any plans to implement this feature in the RB E200 firmware? Is it even possible?
The older sansa c140 played WAV files but swapped the channels, introduced an annoying click at the beginning and end of each file and you had to manually advance the song when it was done. But it did play them. I thought the newer model would address these issues but instead it seems they defeated the wav playback function in the interests of big business.
The E280 sales promo was vague about which file formats could be played back on it and now I'm stuck with something that doesn't work for my intended purpose.
I installed the daily E200 build but it booted to a tiny black font and wouldn't play a song back. I know it's still in the works but I guess I'm not really clear what it's intended purpose is. There was some mention of fonts but nothing specific about when and where to install them. Maybe that's why the screen font was so small.
Is there a page on this site that compares the features of each RB build with the respective manufacturers?
If I bought an Ipod 2Gig nano for example, would the RB layer let me wipe the old file structure, drag and drop files from XP WindowsExplorer and use it like a wav player? This would be my big dream.
Thanks for your time and efforts, P.

[Llorean]

I don't know why you're calling Rockbox a "layer". It's an entire replacement firmware.

Rockbox offers the same features on any of the non-Archos players it'll run on (with limitations by hardware, for example, if there's no FM tuner, the hardware doesn't have FM Radio).

The Sansa doesn't have drivers for the FM Radio or Recording yet, but it does support all the file formats Rockbox supports. This includes WAV, though you'd be significantly better off choosing FLAC or some other lossless format.

If you were unable to play a file, you should probably see the PDF manual, as it explains how to do so. If you got an error message when you tried, then I would be interested in knowing what.

The PDF manual should also explain where to get the fonts, and what to do with them. Did it not?

[perry]

I don't know why you're calling Rockbox a "layer". It's an entire replacement firmware.

sorry,..

The Sansa doesn't have drivers for the FM Radio or Recording yet, but it does support all the file formats Rockbox supports. This includes WAV, though you'd be significantly better off choosing FLAC or some other lossless format.

Someone gave me a FLAC file once. I never found any software that would play it back or convert it into anything usefull even though I have several expensive DAW editors. Guess I'll have to try again. Do you have recommendations for this? What would be significantly better about FLAC? I only have a few songs on the player at a time so space isn't an issure with an 8 Gig player. Seems like the native format would be the most accurate playback.
Also, will the FM recording, if implemented, be recording in stereo? The factory firmware has this disabled- you can only record the radio in mono.

If you were unable to play a file, you should probably see the PDF manual, as it explains how to do so. If you got an error message when you tried, then I would be interested in knowing what.

It said,.. "No File". Even though I know there was a WAV file as it was the only song on the player. I fumbled through the menu but didn't see the song listed anywhere.
I uninstalled rockbox but then couldn't turn off the e280. I had to remove the battery while it was on. Boy was I relived when it booted back up.

The PDF manual should also explain where to get the fonts, and what to do with them. Did it not?

Yes, you're right. It was on page 102. Is that why the screen was in micro-font? Once I install get the fonts to install at boot time the screen will be legible?

Thanks for your patience.

[bluebrother]

Please use the quote tags, or at least insert some kind of manual quotation characters as common in email. It's really hard to read if you can't easily distinguish between quoted and unquoted text.

With the fonts installed you can choose a different fonts. The fonts package contains several fonts in several sizes. The "micro-font" (which isn't "micro" on quite a couple of other players btw) is simply the default font. Use a different one.

[Llorean]

FLAC has exactly equal playback quality to WAV, but files that are about 20-50% smaller depending on compression settings at the actual content of the file.

Because FLAC is "lossless" compression, it doesn't throw any data away to save space like MP3, so when you play back the file, you're getting a 100% perfect copy of the original data.

What exactly did you DO that said "No file", because you went on to say you couldn't find the song, and I have a hard time with the idea that you tried to play a song you couldn't find.

[Febs]

Yes, you're right. It was on page 102. Is that why the screen was in micro-font? Once I install get the fonts to install at boot time the screen will be legible?

And page 11, and 17, and 49 ...