Firmware flashing is not for the faint of heart. Especially when upgrading to a 3rd party open source firmware that is not supported by the manufacturer of your device. By doing so, you potentially run the risk of ‘Bricking’ your beloved peice of electro-gadgetry, as well as the fact that you’ll definitely forfeit any remaining warranty you may still be relying on.
So… you can understand my reluctance to do so with my ever-so-beloved iRiver iHP-140 mp3 player. Even though my warrenty had long since run out, that just meant it would be that much harder to try to get support if I did happen to screw something up. But after reading the accounts of many successful upgrades on the RockBox forums, I decided to go ahead with it. With my fingers crossed and headphones on in anticipation, I followed the step-by-step (and quite easy) instructions. Once everything was in place I selected ‘OK’ to confirm the firmware upgrade and then held my breath…
Luckily, once it finished the upgrade, the player rebooted and I was sportin a nifty new interface. All the functionality of the original firmware remained, but RockBox was about to blow my socks off. Since this is blog post, I’ll try to keep this list short, but I plan to expand further in a full-on review this weekend. Here’s a list of the best parts of my sweet new firmware…
1. Track gaps are a thing of the past (my biggest gripe with the original firmware)
2. Totally customizable status screen and menus
3. 5 band graphic equalizer (with gain, Q and cutoff adjustments)
4. support for many other nifty plugins
5. on the fly file delete, playlist creation, file rename, and other stuff…
6. real-live honest-to-goodness shuffle (instead of that fake crap iRiver tried to pass off as shuffle
And many other things to be mentioned in my upcoming review. Long story short…
RockBox kicks Ass!!!
Click the pic below to visit RockBox.org and upgrade your player today.
So you like it, eh?? I’ve been scared about upgrading mine! I need your blessing.
Go forth and upgrade my son. You have the belssing of ModStomp, with all the rights and privileges that entails.
Do you still have your iRiver or are you planning to do your iPod?
Regardless, its everything I hoped it would be. I’ve only really got one minor issue with it, but compared to all the issues it solves, it was waaaay worth it.
RockBox is the shit!!! I have the Sansa e250 and i cant connect it to my computer unless i turn it off then hold record then plug it in. But its completly worth it… as long as you get DOOM.
Those Sansa’s are sweet little players. My sister just got one so I got to play with it a bit. I love the fact that it doesn’t require WMP to load it. Seems like a solid little machine.
I am a bit worried that the Nano 4 feels too light and is so thin that it will easily break under pressure.