First impressions and comments on Clip Zip

I recently bought a Clip Sport and have previously posted in that section.  While still pleased with it, I noticed how many people preferred the Clip Zip so I decided to take the plunge!

Yesterday I took delivery of a new 4gb Zip and a second hand 8gb loaded with Rockbox v. 3.13 although the message Boot 4.0 also appears on startup.

The 4gb froze immediately on start up, hanging after the second logo explosion.  From postings on here it seems unfixable but vendor has agreed to send replacement.

The Rockbox Zip seems to work fine and, my goodness, does it look busy with loads of settings to explore!  

I have checked out the native Sansa software and I quite like it although it won’t load with an sd card inserted.

Getting back to Rockbox, my initial impressions are of the added features, some of which are good, the others perhaps just gimmicky.  I’m not sure I like the fonts and themes and the fast scrolling of info turns me off a bit but I still have a lot of reading and experimenting to do.  I have downloaded the Rockbox user manual for the Zip and I am dipping into discussions on here.

Ideally, I want to find an ideal bunch of settings which will give me a good playback screen with artwork but not overcluttered.  I also want a good radio screen which will display station info AND time.  I also want to get familiar with some sort of logical menu navigation.  With this forum, and your help, I will get there!

I guess that if I need to get some additional fonts or themes, I will have to install a downloader to get them…and if I decide I prefer original firmware then read up on uninstalling Rockbox but I am keen to stick with it.

Anyway, here goes with my playtime and I, as ever, appreciate any feedback or recommendations!

3.13 is ancient.  You should update, the newer builds have a lot of improvements like fully working USB mode and roughly 2x the battery life.  

Thanks Saratoga. Can you kindly point me to a clear guide on here as how best to update? I also want to add themes where I can get good album art.

Thanks in advance.

The manual has detailed install instructions, but basically you download a build and unzip it to the player or use the rockbox utility to update.

So although 3.13 is the latest version, there are updates, is that right?

Oh, and one other question…I have installed one of lebellium’s Samsung like themes with album art which I like.  Just can’t figure out one thing, how to you lock your device while listening to music or radio?  Can’t figure it out!