MP3 player support

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 01:17:31AM -0400, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
> I'm trying to figure out Linux support for media players.
> Unfortunately, I missed Colin's talk about media players at NewTLUG in
> January.
> 
> We want to organize a bunch of songs in MP3 form, with playlists.  The
> best players that we have are MTP / PaysForSure: Sandisk Sansa E260
> (with stock firmware) and Creative Zen V.
> 
> (We're hoping to use a player plus amplified speakers as a replacement for
> a stationary stereo system.  So physical size doesn't matter.  A nice
> interface and display would be valued.  We'd prefer to use one of the
> two players we already have so that we can learn how actual use works
> out.  We do think that playlists will be important.)
> 
> 
> Here's what I think I know.  It seemed hard to discover.
> 
> Amarok does not support playlists on MTP players.  They expect this to
> be remedied by a Google Summer of Code project.

The e260 can work as usb mass storage too, you just have to select
it in the setup on the player.  If you don't have the option, upgrade
the firmware.  The latest version has the option apparently.

Older models of the w260 can also run rockbox instead of the original
firmware, which allows SDHC use (so larger than 2GB cards), as well as
support for other file formats.

> Rhythmbox 2.x does not support playlists on MTP players.  Rhythmbox
> 1.4 did, but that isn't the version that current Fedora or Ubuntu
> support. http://live.gnome.org/RhythmboxRemovableMedia
> 
> Gnomad2 does support the Zen V's playlists.  It's a bit crude and not
> being actively developed (as far as I know).
> 
> We could use a Nokia 770 for this task but haven't thought that
> through.
> 
> I'm not sure, but I think that the iPod support might be better than
> the MTP players, even though the iPod is more proprietary.  We might
> break down and buy an iPod.  I don't actually know what iPod makes
> sense to buy.  Here are some hints but I don't know how to map these
> into iPods actually for sale:
>   http://gtkpod.wikispaces.com/Supported+iPods
> 
> Do you use an mp3 player and manipulate playlists with Linux software?
> What player?  What software?  How has your experience been?

-- 
Len Sorensen
--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://gtalug.org/wiki/Mailing_lists