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Turn Your iPod into a Mini-PDA
For most people, an MP3 player serves
a pretty narrow purpose: It plays music,
maybe a video here or there if you’ve got
a newer model, and might have a handful
of applications. All in all, though, MP3
players are rarely treated as anything
more than tiny, portable jukeboxes,
which is a shame, because as gadgets
they’ve got the potential for so much
more. That’s why we’re going to show
you how to install custom Rockbox firmware—to add support for
new codecs, gapless playback, and even Doom on your MP3 player.
Rockbox is open-source replacement firmware for MP3 players. It supports a wide range of players, including many (but not all)
players from Apple, Archos, Cowon, iRiver, Olympus, SanDisk, and
Toshiba. Before reading any further, check out the chart at the top
of the Rockbox homepage (www.rockbox.org) to see whether your
specific model is supported. If it’s not, you are sadly out of luck, for
the time being.
INSTALL ROCKBOX
First, you’ll need to go to the Rockbox website and download the
Rockbox utility (http://bit.ly/K8Eat), which includes an automatic
installer tool that works with any of the supported MP3 players.
Simply run the utility, and it will automatically detect that this
is the first time it’s been run and ask if you want to install Rockbox
on a new device. Plug your device into your computer, then select
whichever drive letter has been assigned to it, and specify what
model it is (image A). Click OK.
The Rockbox utility will now allow you to customize your
Rockbox installation. Generally, clicking Complete Installation is
advisable, as it will also install the full set of extra plugins to allow
you to get the most out of your hacked MP3 player.
Sit tight for a bit while the installation completes, then select
whichever theme you want installed on your MP3 player (image
B). You’ve now got a hacked MP3 player. You can change your
theme whenever you want to, using the Rockbox utility. Read the
Rockbox documentation for your player to find out how you can
customize it using the extensive options menu.
A
B
OPTIONS
Rockbox’s Notable Features
ADVANCED MEDIA PLAYBACK
Rockbox allows you to expand the functionality of your MP3 player
box install includes
in several core ways. For instance, with Rockbox firmware, an old
a bunch of apps and
iPod Photo (the one before the iPod Video) is actually capable of
games, including clas-
playing .mpeg video files. Many players can play music and video
sics like Minesweeper
in more formats and containers than are supported by default,
and Sudoku.
such as FLAC and Matroska. Additionally, Rockbox can add voice
to menus, and supports voice recognition, to make it easier for
DOOM
people with impaired vision to use an MP3 player.
Did we mention that
you can play Doom? On a funky, old-school iPod? Sure, trying to
APPS, APPS, APPS
play Doom on a grayscale iPod screen is enough to make your
With Rockbox, you get access to an enormous catalog of apps (most
eyes commit ritual seppuku, but the novelty factor alone is sure to
of them written by hobbyists) that you can load onto your player for
keep you blasting demons with a click-wheel for a few minutes at
added functionality or just to have some fun. The standard Rock
least. Remember that nerd-cred thing? This is how you get it.
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OCT 09
| MAXIM
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