Shiftlock wrote: On the downside, Rockbox obviously isn’t as polished as the Sansa firmware, and there are too many options for my wife. It also seems to drain the battery faster, but maybe it just seems that way to me because I’ve played more video under Rockbox and more music under the Sansa firmware. Anyone else have an opinion?
Just made the switch a couple months ago and I’d have to say that rock box, well, rocks. It is a little overwhelming at first with the sheer volume of options, but once you get used to it there’s no going back.
I’m not sure I would say that it’s less polished, but I would agree that the original FW is much simpler to use and the functionality is more self-evident. Of course that’s mainly becuse there are far fewer features and options.
There are a few things I actually liked better about the original FW, like how it scans the whole player for playlists and presents them in a single list accesible from the main menu. In RB you have to go browse the folders to find your playlists.
Battery is shorter, but not enough to affect my usage in any way. Unless you absolutly must have every last second the OF gives you, I doubt you’d really notice much difference in practice. Also, I just updated to the lastest build a couple weeks ago, and I’m not 100% sure, but I think there’s even less difference now. Just an impression, I haven’t done any real testing.
But when you weigh the few nit-picks against the massive benefits of RB it’s no contest. I’ll never go back to the OF. I would reccomend RB without reservation to anyone who is frustrated by the limitations of the OF and is somewhat technically inclined (or at least not intimidated by technology).
