MP3 player support

[Marc Lanctot]

On 30/04/09 09:49 AM, Lennart Sorensen wrote:
> 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.
>

Rockbox supports the Sansa e260 as well.. that's what I have an it works 
like a charm. Adding/removing songs is as easy as dropping them or 
taking them out of a particular folder, like you would any other mass 
storage device -- no special software/protocols needed. It plays OGGs. 
It has a microphone. It has FM radio. It has plugins for apps etc. It 
even has games on the thing. :)

The playlists are kept as text files in a directory on the device; I 
usually just empty it and regenerate a new list from the device itself 
whenever I make changes to the song (I have a single playlist), but any 
program capable of creating playlists and exporting them in .m3u format 
should work because that's what Rockbox uses.

The only problem I've had with Rockbox is that the amount of power left 
in the battery is reported wrong (it always shows less than what is 
really left). I'm using version/build r17435-080510.. I'm sure that's 
been fixed new versions.

Check out http://www.rockbox.org/ for full details.

The interface is quite usable. I can bring it and let you use mine for a 
bit next meeting if you want to see what you think for yourself.

Marc

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