/pmp/ thread

Personal music player thread

In celebration of the latest release of Rockbox and my successful assembly of a custom video 5g (pic related) it's time for a /pmp/ thread

What's in the news:
after years we get a new version!
rockbox.org/wiki/ReleaseNotes314

the update claims to approximately double the battery life on clip+ models

What are pmps good for in the year 2017 (at least for me)?

-High capacity portable storage. You can carry around data conveniently with a good device.
-dedicated small device for exercise (>implying) with physical buttons to jumps through music easily
-convenient use for commutes (no cables tying down your phone)


Share what you use, what you're planning on buying, and any interesting mods

Other urls found in this thread:

rockbox.org/manual.shtml
nullvoid.station.moe/Freedom-Hardware/Video5G-Rockbox/
twitter.com/AnonBabble

Have a Clip+ as well but the hardware is starting to fail after years of use. Decided to put together a custom 5g. Was able to acquire a semi working unit for pennies from a local buy.
Will write up an indepth guide soon on the process since there are some details that can frustrate someone that doesn't do this frequently.
I fitted an original 30GB model with an msata ssd 256gb with the latest patched Rockbox. I replaced the front and back of the unit with new parts (courtesy of our Chinese friends). I also added a new 3000 mAh aftermarket battery.

The only fuckup was that I couldn't fit all the new parts into the old slim 30GB backplate. I'm not even sure if they would fit into the fat 80GB backplate. The solution I had for this was a dirty one consisting of combining two metal plate backs for multiple layers of hardware.

I don't really understand any of this but am interested regardless, I just have one question OP. Is that iPod taped together with electrical tape?
I actually have a old 30gb black ipod that just sits in a drawer collecting dust for like the past 5 years or more. I wouldn't mind modding it or doing something interesting to have a neat little portable music player. All I really use right now is just my ipad and an old psp for music.
I need to drag my ass into 2017 already.
looking forward to your guide user

Does rockbox lag with some themes? My old iPod video seems to do better with what I assume is the less involved themes.

>Is that iPod taped together with electrical tape?
yeah, that was my fuckup with planning for hardware space. I'm too cheap to buy an 80GB fat back plate (already wasted money on the new slim plate thinking it would fit) for the new hardware so I combined two 30GB backplates with hardware in each. I want to see how well this dirty solution will work. Obviously, anyone doing this will learn from my mistake and get the fat backplate and end up with a normal device.

>looking forward to your guide user
thanks, will dump it in one of these threads once I get it put together. It's an easy procedure if you have some patience with small hardware pieces and decent beforehand knowledge. It was harder to do for me because no guides specific to my configuration existed.
Sorry for these long detailed posts. Just want to get the info out.
I haven't tried any besides stock on that 5G. I am amazed with how stable Rockbox is at this point, even with the SSD and patched firmware.

I want to like rock box but all the tags and album covers get messed up

strange, I haven't dealt with any major problems with Rockbox messing up tags but it's too early to say anything about the 5G. The only problems I had was song order on my clip+ but I think that was due to my error after re ecoding. They just released a new version after years of nothing. Maybe the problems were fixed for your player.

What's the newest pmp that has rockbox support?

I think the community has slowed down a lot. Maybe someone can answer your question directly but here is the page of supported devices
rockbox.org/manual.shtml

Literally why not just use a phone? Standalone MP3 players are obsolete.

I'll give it a try sometime. I have a 6g so maybe there was a problem with my files.

I'm not a big fan of exercising with a bulky phone.
clip+ with large micro sd is the perfect exercise player.

I also prefer to have a dedicated player during commutes so I can use my phone in comfort without tugging on a cable.

It works for me. If a phone is more convenient for you I don't see anything wrong with that. Different usecases, different needs etc

Waste of battery

Still have my Cowon A3 floating around in a box somewhere. Fucking loved it when I used it, native support for so many codecs and could do 720p MKV playback with native sub support when everybody else made you transcode it into trash.

Had a shitload of features I never used though, like playing to a TV, picking up OTA TV signals, radio, bunch of other shit.
Great little device though.

yeah, different models tend to have different levels of stability declared on Rockbox. Some players can be complete shit on Rockbox. The newer the shittier is a general rule.

The audio autists really like the 5G because of some hardware that Apple stopped using on later iterations of the ipod so the firmware has gotten a lot of development love. Similar situation for the now discontinued clip+

You need to decide if an equivalent battery is easier to carry than the pmp. Personally, although I cling to my old iPod Touch, I think the battery/charger pack is easier and less likely to be mistaken for a phone and stolen.

Doesn't take much battery if you have it stored locally on your phone.
Unless you're a storage cuck who paid for a phone without an SD card because "muh cloud" or "muh streaming"

I have a Clip+ still going strong.
I dread the day the battery dies though, looks like I won't be able to find a good replacement anymore...

PMP have dedicated DAPs, almost all smartphones route that through the ARM processor which chews through the battery far faster than it should.
It doesnt matter if you have it stored locally, you'll never get the same kind of playback life on a phone as you would a dedicated PMP with a battery a fifth the size.

just use your phone old man lmao

Cowon Z2 here, still runs fine as is has for years now, but I've missed the boat on buying a replacement if this one ever fails. Cowon has taken them off their site, Amazon lists it as discontinued, even Ebay and the like are a ghost hunt. When this guy eventually dies out, I don't know what I'll do. Feels bad, man.

My Clip Zip is still working fine, other than the clip part. I accidentally broke it and Sansa doesn't sell spares.

Cowon is pretty notorious on giving entire product lines the axe for basically no reason, so that doesnt really surprise me. As long as you check what the new devices offer they have a solid quality record though. The M2 seems like a close match to the Z2.

any affordable alternatives? i'm not paying 99 dolars + tax for this shit

I wish someone could have figured out how to make a small affordable mp3 player that can take a large microSD card by now. I have like 110 gb of music, and I don't feel like shelling out $300 for a player

wew, when plugged in the clickwheel works as volume control for a Windows machine with the latest version of Rockbox

that's interesting

there are some chinese sd players floating around but I don't know anythng about quality

My sansa e200 was a multimedi controller.
Play, pause volum, etc... This was back in 2008, nothing new.

I guess I was just surprised since I never used any of the extra features. It's pretty comfy if you have a long enough cable to the bed

Does anyone know the status of the Rockbox app? Is it becoming a good music player or has it been abandoned?

Well I'm still using an iPod Touch 32GB first gen everywhere, and another Touch 4G 32GB that i'm about to jailbreak and sell.

Got some Classics and iPod Video with broken screens last month. Maybe i'll buy the screens and some compactflash and do a weekend project.

how is OS stability? do you use an old version?
the touch models are dirt cheap, even more so than ipods here

Both are running the latest iOS they support; the first gen is iPhone OS 3.1.3 and the 4G has iOS 6.1.6.

I use both only to play music, and maybe read some email. They work great, even the batteries have something like 85% capacity.

Overall both OS are fluid and last long periods of time playing music.

>Both are running the latest iOS they support; the first gen is iPhone OS 3.1.3 and the 4G has iOS 6.1.6.
are those generally worse than the OS they came with on release or better? Was wondering how iOS updates hold up

Thanks for the info

iOS 6.1.6 is a little clunky on the 4G mainly because the CPU is a downclocked single-core with little RAM. Some forums have people saying that iOS5 is more fluid and has better battery life.

iPhoneOS3.1.3 is still smooth after all the years. the iPod syncs really fast and the music app is snappy.

The main issue and advantage is the small screen by today's standards. For me it's great because I can fit it in any pocket and have a music device which I only charge during weekend.

Do Sansas play songs in m4a format?

It's been like that for quite some time now. I use mine the same way when I have headphones plugged into the front of my pc.

interesting to see that you're still satisfied with them. I guess the hardware held up well eh

ahah, same scenario here

They play music for long periods of time and the battery won't drain during standby, so yeah, they work great for me.

Where can I get a good battery replacement for iPod Video 60GB?

ebay, as always
there are even aftermarkets with larger capacities floating around than stock

tried, but most sellers don't ship to my shithole of a country for some reason. I can somehow get Sup Forumsutistic pillows but not an iPod battery

hehe, try aliexpress or some market that caters to shitholes

arf arf slavcuck shithole reporting

I feel sorry for you. I always hear stories of how hard it is to have access to markets in yurup.

US market is flooded with cheap electronics

i feel sorry for myself too. if i ever got american citizenship i'd heil trump, eat mcdonalds and stop squatting...and actually buy hardware at decent prices without shitty tax.

yeah, I've been to countries where the global online market place treats your whole country as one giant thief

Not a fun place to be a consumer

Why the fuck aren't they selling new Clip+s anymore? They'd probably sell more than their new crap.

oh well, aliexpress has some 2000mAh batteries, thanks for that at least.

np, come to burgerland
buy worthless shit until you can no longer walk in your small apartment
get diabetes
sit in traffic for 2 hours a day

you know, the dream etc.

ah yes, the sweet american dream. i don't know what's better - dying of diabetes cause i can't afford healthcare or dying because of random Islam act of peace. Oh wait, my shithole doesn't take refugees in.

but the dream of cheap tech is probably worth moving

I got the 3000mAh battery and a SD card adapter for it. Didn't fit into the 30gb backplate. Just check if the ssd would fit inside the small case. If it does than yure Gucci with a 80gb cover and the long 3000mAh battery.

ahh, thank you for the reference. Will check it using that in mind.

Great the new rockbox version bricked my clip+

Oh no, wait, there it goes. Scared me for a minute there.

worked for me, less than 2 min with the flash util
captcha: works

Yeah I used the utility, then properly ejected and unplugged the player. Then rockbox asked to reboot the player, and while doing so it had a crash and I got a debug panic screen then it wouldn't turn on for 2 minutes.

Finished the guide for getting parts together for modifying a 5/5.5G with an msata ssd.

Maybe it's vague but I think it's still a decent pool of knowledge for a topic I had to search around for in multiple places.

Hopefully this helps someone confused about what to buy and where to start. Please share and offer suggestions if I need to fix or add anything.

nullvoid.station.moe/Freedom-Hardware/Video5G-Rockbox/

Installed latest rockbox today. So far so good.