H4Xing the Video iPod with RockBox

[Guest]

This came up in another thread...

Are you the owner of an MP3 player that has silly DRM (Digital Rights Management) restrictions?

The 5G Video iPod is a delightful piece of technology. I'm amazed at the compactness and quality of it.

The menus aren't all that great, however.

Take sound adjustments, for example. There's no (easy, simple) way to tweak bass, treble, balance, etc. Plus the EQ is generic; e.g., "rock", "jazz", and so forth.

The iPod uses iTunes to control how content is loaded onto your player, and there are controls to keep you from moving stuff around, and transferring it to other devices. This is all to make the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) cartel happy. Artists only get 10% of the take on iTunes, btw.

RockBox is a substitute operating system for the iPod family (and for Archos and iRiver products) that completely replaces the setup so that the player doesn't need iTunes in order to work. When RockBox is running and your player is hooked up, just drag and drop your MP3s like any other player, and you're done.

There are only six easy steps to perform with the 5G Video iPod, and the results are out of sight.

See attachment for RockBox on the Video iPod.

mh

edit to add - I'm not just touting this because it's open source; I'm touting it because it's outstanding. It works like a champ on my iPod..

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[The111 0]

Sounds interesting. I have a 60GB non-video.

Is it reversible? I would assume formatting the iPod would return it to its original state. It's just a hard drive after all.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[bob.dino 0]

Does putting Rockbox on the iPod mean that you can no longer play songs purchased from the iTunes store onto it?

[The111 0]

Hmm, I looked it up and it is actually a firmware update, which I understand as slightly more severe than a software update. Also, it appears to only work on two models of iPod, a 4G and 5G video IIRC. Not sure why it wouldn't work on all of them.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[Chivo 0]

According to http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/FeatureComparison#Apple, RockBox doesn't support video playback on the video ipod. That's pretty much all I use it for so I'll stay with apple's firmware for a while.

The most important question was posted before... "is it reversible???" :-)

~Chivo

[nacmacfeegle 0]

"Are you the owner of an MP3 player that has silly DRM (Digital Rights Management) restrictions?"

Been through all that pain with early Sony MP3 players, put me right off the idea of an i-pod.

As an aside have any of you guys come across the Squeezebox MP3 player?

I just got one and am loving having my 90GB or so of music available throughout the house, over the wireless net, quality is none too shabby either.
http://www.slimdevices.com/

Me likeee

--------------------

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

[Guest]

Yes. The Apple bootloader is extracted as part of the process. To undo Rockbox, restore the Apple bootloader and delete the Rockbox directory. Just make darn sure you don't lose or misplace the original Apple bootloader...!

That restoration process works as advertised - I did it because I was initially concerned that the iPod wasn't recharging under Rockbox...turns out that my USB hub's power supply was unplugged...

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[Guest]

Quote

Does putting Rockbox on the iPod mean that you can no longer play songs purchased from the iTunes store onto it?

Yes, because you're bypassing all the DRM silliness that comes with iTunes.

mh

edit to add: if you unload the Rockbox bootloader and restore the original, the iPod defaults back and plays all the AAC / iTunes stuff as before - I know this, because I tried it.

There will be an issue of storage space, however, since you're sharing the hard drive with the other system's files. If you want to switch back and forth between the MP3 version and the AAC version of a song, for example, you'll have to have both versions on the unit.

Rockbox is in continuous development, however, so I foresee a boot menu not unlike System Commander that will allow you to choose which operating system you want to use at runtime, and rewrite the boot sector on the fly.

At least, that's what I'd be shooting for if I wrote code...

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."