Scrobble the Box

OK, as promised, here it is. For all of you whose last argument against using RockBox was "hey, last.fm just got iPod support to work."

Last.fm works with the box. Like a charm, actually. According to last.fm, iPod support only works if you use iTunes to manage your Pod. Rockbox doesn't care. All thanks to a little prog called QTScrobbler. By the way, it also works with the original Apple firmware, and all other players running the Box. Natively, iPod is the only mp3 playe supported by Audioscrobbler.

It's easy to use, too. In your player's menu, activate last.fm log (on my iPod it's under Settings>General Settings>Playback>Last.fm Log). This will create a file called ".scrobbler.log" in the players root directory.

If you are running QTScrobbler for the first time, you will have to set it up. Enter your last.fm login under Gobal>Settings>General. After that, load the log file by clicking on "Open .scrobbler.log", and selecting the drive letter your player is under (make sure it's plugged in, of course). Now you're just one click on "Submit" away from scrobbling from your mp3 player to last.fm.

Another plus of using QTScrobbler for iPod scrobbling is that there is a Linux version of QTS (iPod scrobbling was impossible before)

That's it for today, kids. Tomorrow I'll show you how to get your nano (or any other iPod) to play videos.


And here are the links you all have been waiting for:

• QTScrobbler

Alternatives to QTScrobbler (not tested!)

• LogScrobbler
• RockBox to last.fm uploader (web interface)
• dap-scrob (web interface)

RockBox wiki page about scrobbling

Rockin' the Box

It's the perfect combination; a 4GB 1st generation iPod (mine's actually white, but I liked the picture of the black one) and RockBox. It's a setup that never leaves my pocket.

A lot of times companies produce a great piece of hardware (the iPod), and load it with crappy firmware (the original iPod fw). I mean, yeah, it's easy to use and understand, but.. some of my expectations are just not filled. So after I got my Pod, it took me about a week until I decided to load RockBox..


What is RockBox?

RockBox is an open source firmware for mp3 players, written from scratch. It runs on a wide range of players:

• Apple: 1st through 5.5th generation iPod, iPod Mini and 1st generation iPod Nano
  (not the Shuffle, 2nd/3rd gen Nano, Classic or Touch)
• Archos: Jukebox 5000, 6000, Studio, Recorder, FM Recorder, Recorder V2 and Ondio
• Cowon: iAudio X5, X5V, X5L, M5 and M5L
• iriver: H100, H300 and H10 series
• SanDisk: Sansa c200, e200 and e200R series (not the v2 models)
• Toshiba: Gigabeat X and F series (not the S series)

from rockbox.org


The First Contact: Install

Ridiculously easy; download the current build, copy it on the player's hard disk, download and execute the bootloader, done. Go get yourself a treat.

(for player-specific instructions refer to the RockBox website)


Fill'er Up: Loading your library

Even easier than the installation; works exactly the same way as before. iTunes, WinAMP, foobar 2000, they all think they are dealing with an original iPod.


Dressing Up: Customize the user interface

This is probably one of the greatest things about RockBox; the GUI is fully customizable. The menu- and while-playing screens are even independent from each other.
My menus display a slightly modified "Brownstone" theme (download), and my while-playing screen shows my own creation, based on "Crashbox for nano" (download)



That's it for now. I'm testing RockBox/last.fm compatibility right now, and I'll be back as soon as I can supply some presentable results.