The Rockbox "How To" Page

Installation

How do I install Rockbox?

Follow the Rockbox step-by-step installation instructions.

How do I uninstall Rockbox?

Follow the instructions for uninstalling Rockbox.

Navigation

How do I page up and page down?

On iriver platforms, press and hold the ON/PLAY button and press the UP or DOWN buttons.

How do I browse by artist or album?

Rockbox includes a database function, under development, which currently allows selection of music by artist, album, and song title; it also allows you to search your music under each of these fields. To enable the database, you need to (1) download various pieces of software/software files onto your player and computer, (2) build your database, and (3) select the database as your file selection means.

Instructions on how to do this are located at the Rockbox TagDatabase page.

Note: it appears that a bug has entered the system so that the player currently (16 January 2006) freezes when "ID3 database" is selected under "Show Files" (the third step above). To avoid this while it awaits fixing, select the ID3 database under the regular menu (Menu->General Settings->File View->Show Files) rather than the Quickscreen, and then back out a screen and turn the player off, and then on again.

How can I find a particular song or album or artist to play, when I only know part of the name?

Rockbox has the ability to search by string under each of the song, artist and album tag fields. To do so, you first need to enable the Rockbox database using your previously filled-in music tags, by (1) downloading various pieces of software/software files onto your player and computer, (2) building your database, and (3) selecting the database as your file selection means. Then, to find your music, you choose "Search" under the database, followed by the field you want to search (Artists, Albums, or Songs), at which point you are presented with a letter/number/symbol data entry screen. Insert a string of characters (this does not have to be a full word) and press ON, at which point Rockbox searches the selected tag field and gives you the results, for you to select between.

Cool!

Instructions on how to set the database up are located at the Rockbox TagDatabase page. http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/TagDatabase

Note: it appears that a bug has entered the system so that the player currently (16 January 2006) freezes when "ID3 database" is selected under "Show Files" (the third step above). To avoid this while it awaits fixing, select the ID3 database under the regular menu (Menu->General Settings->File View->Show Files) rather than the Quickscreen, and then back out a screen and turn the player off, and then on again.

How do I skip to the next folder?

Shortcut keys

How do I change the playback speed of a track?

On iriver platforms, while the track is playing press PLAY + UP/DOWN. To revert to the normal playback speed, use the same process to return the setting to 100, or turn your jukebox off and restart it.

How do I view the ID3 Info of a track?

There are several different ways to view a track's ID3 tags:

• Use the Show Info function in the File Menu.
• Use the Show Info function in the Main Menu: Main Menu --> Info --> Show Info
• On iriver platforms, while the track is playing press PLAY + A-B.

Shuffling and playlists

How do I shuffle all of the songs on my jukebox? I tried setting the shuffle setting to 'all', but that only shuffles the current directory.

Rockbox is playlist oriented. When you play a song, or a directory, or an album, Rockbox creates a playlist and plays it. Thus, to shuffle all songs on the player, you need to create a playlist of all songs on the player, and play that playlist with shuffle mode set to "all."

To do this:

1. Make sure that the Recursively Insert Directories function is set to "On."
2. Go to the folder that contains all of your music. On some players, this will be the root folder; on others it may be the "MUSIC" folder.
3. Use the Create Playlist function in the Playlist Options menu to create a playlist of your music folder and all of its subdirectories.
4. The resulting playlist file will be named after the directory that you were in when you created the playlist, and it will be stored one directory level above the level of the directory from which you created a playlist. For example, let's say you have all of your music in the directory \files\music. If you created a playlist of the "music" directory, the resulting playlist will be called music.m3u and it will be located in the \files directory.
5. Turn the shuffle mode on. You can do this either through the Quick Menu or through the General Settings --> Playback menu.

How do I put a single song into a playlist, rather than an entire directory?

As noted above, Rockbox creates a playlist any time you play a song. When you play a song normally, Rockbox will create a playlist of all of the songs in the folder with the song you select. If you want to play only a single song, or start a new playlist with a single song rather than the entire folder, do this:

• Stop playback.
• Enter the File Menu.
• Enter the Playlist Menu.
• Select "Insert."

n00b's guide to making Rockbox look pretty on an iRiver H3XX? (customizing Rockbox's display)

A lot of new users say they don't like the way Rockbox looks right after they've installed it. Don't worry. Rockbox is very easy to customize. The easiest way to start making Rockbox look nicer is to download some .wps files that look good to you.

NOTE: this guide assumes you are using Needleboy's build, Rockbox Optimized for H300. If you don't have it, grab it now. Put it on your player the same way you did with your daily rockbox build, writing it directly over the build you already have.

Where to download 24-bit "While Playing Screens" (.wps files)

1. Grab Sanitarium's Ultimate 24 bit wps collection. Alternatively, you can pick them out individually from Rockbox-themes.org, the MisticRiver Forums, or the WpsGallery. The .wps files that include theme files (or .cfg files) are the most convenient, especially for beginners. Most of them now say that they include .cfg files anyway.
2. Plug your iRiver into a USB port and navigate to the .rockbox folder.
3. Unzip the files you downloaded.
4. Put the .wps files and folders you downloaded in the .rockbox\wps folder on your player.
5. Put the .cfg files in the .rockbox\themes folder.
6. Disconnect your player using the Safely Remove Hardware icon.

How to use your new downloaded themes

1. Start your player by pressing play, booting into ROCKbox.
2. Press (don't hold) A-B to open the main menu.
3. Come down to 'Browse Themes' and press Navi.
4. Select one of the new 24-bit themes you downloaded and press Navi.
5. Once loading is finished, press the back button as many times as necessary to get to the root directory or your music folder.
6. Start a song to see the new .wps.

NOTE: If you don't see a .wps you downloaded, it might not have come with a theme file (.cfg). If this is the case, read the section below about changing just the .wps file.

How to change the font and background colors without changing the .wps:

1. Press (don't hold) A-B to open the main menu.
2. Come down to 'General Settings' and press Navi.
3. Select 'Display' and press Navi.
4. Select 'Change Colors' and press Navi.
5. Select 'Background' or 'Foreground' and press Navi.
6. Select colors that you like, making sure that your text is highly visible over the background.

How to change the look of the text without changing the wps:

1. Press (don't hold) A-B to open the main menu.
2. Come down to 'General Settings' and press Navi.
3. Select 'Display' and press Navi.
4. Select 'Browse Fonts' and press Navi.
5. Select fonts using the Navi button. nimbus-12 is a good one to start with as it looks a lot like the stock iRiver font.

How to change .wps files without changing the fonts/colors:

1. Press (don't hold) A-B to open the main menu.
2. Come down to 'General Settings' and press Navi.
3. Select 'Display' and press Navi.
4. Select 'Browse .wps files' and press Navi.
5. Select files using the Navi button. Start a song to see them in action.

Some other things that look amazing with ROCKbox, that you couldn't see with your stock firmware:

How to check out your plugins

1. Press (don't hold) A-B to open the main menu.
2. Come down to 'Browse Plugins' and press Navi.
3. Try 'brickmania' and 'bubbles' to see a couple of great examples of what people can do with your player's beautiful screen. I wonder if iRiver ever dreamed their product could look so good!

How to get started with Rockboy

1. Go to Google, and use it to find "gb" or "gbc" "roms"
2. Put the .gb and .gbc files in your player's root directory or a create a folder for them.
3. Start you player and browse to the roms, start them with the Navi or Fast Forward button. Now your player is also a Gameboy.

You should now be able to navigate ROCKbox pretty well, and you should have a pretty good appreciation for the fact that anything is possible with its look and feel. You aren't limited to the way it looks when you put it on your player. Once you've gotten your head around the way all this works, you can try making your own .wps files and themes.

More customization:

How to create a custom "While Playing Screen" (making a .wps file)

A good place to start is by taking a look at some of the .wps files you already have, in whatever text editor you wish. The .wps code looks daunting on first glance, but it's not so complicated once you get familiar with it. You'll quickly be able to decipher what everything does, especially if you're familiar with the way the .wps looks while it's in use. There's a good guide for writing/editing wps files here.

How to create a custom theme (making a .cfg file)

The .cfg files are even easier to edit than the .wps files. You can have virtually any Rockbox setting stored in a .cfg file (look here for a guide), but if you ever plan on making your theme available to the public, there are some guidelines to follow. Check them out here.