[Bubba]

Well fuck me, i never knew about this, despite it being nothing new.

Prompted by the "main source of music" topic, i thought i'd have a look at how to tweak your iPod and discovered the rather fantastic Rockbox: http://www.rockbox.org/

Takes about 10 mins to install and will allow the playing of .flac, .ogg, and many other formats on your iPod as well as lots of other goodies like a graphic equalizer, games, *gapless playback*, browse by folder and many other features that the shite Apple firmware still haven't implemented.

I'm very happy indeed.

[cofe]

gapless playback. fuck me. apple. Orange Macintosh should bring out an iPOD - it would be loads better.

i could google it but what is .flac, and why?

[Bubba]

.flac is a compressed format that lossless so is like having a direct copy of the original CD - sounds better than mp3 and future proofs anything you rip or download.

Previously i would download the .flac, then convert to .mp3 and then xfer to the iPod - now i just drag and drop it. The gapless thing may have been implemented by apple now but i have a 4g ipod and it wasn't done retrospectively so in order to listen to a dance mix that had track markers, you'd have to get iTunes to convert it all into one track first. A right pain.

Also, i hate the way iTunes forces you to browse your music by tags....rockbox let's you navigate that way but also using a normal file/folder interface too.

Very nice bit of firmware, and also works on other music players, not just iPods.

[GCW]

Does MyMP3 Pro support .flac?

[Bubba]

No idea mate. Don't even know what MyMP3 is.

I forgot to say that Rockbox is installed as a dual boot, so you can still use the original crappy apple firmware if you should want to

[GCW]

MyMP3 Pro is Steinberg, same as Cubase (which is why I use it).  A most excellent program.  I'll have to have a look.  my version is a bit old so may not work with .flac.

[dobbin]

Reading this thread I thought I would give this Rockbox thing a try, and tech wise, following Bubs is often a wild and exciting ride, so I installed it yesterday. Its very different to the Ipod firmware, but I love that I can dual boot, so I can get back to ipodOS easily. If you do install it be sure to get some different fonts, or have a magnifying glass handy. Very very good. A big improvement!

[Paul B]

easy to do Dobbin?

[Bubba]

and tech wise, following Bubs is often a wild and exciting ride

It is very easy to install.

Takes a bit of getting used to as the controls are a bit different to the Apple firmware.

It's not a full release version so occasionally crashes on my 4g iPod, but I really like it a lot.

As Dobbin says, change the font from the default ones - you have to download the fonts pack seperately, and install them into a fonts folder in the main tree.