[Damion Chaplin]

http://www.zune-online.com/news/zune/rockbox-and-zune-walking-together.html

"Though it’s not ready yet, developers are working on a Zune port of Rockbox (on volunteered time, nonetheless), which isn’t much different than the Toshiba Gigabeat port they’d already started work on. This means that sometime in the future, we should see a workable version for download. But before you go and get excited, it’s worth noting that if you run Rockbox on your Zune, you’ll probably not only loose compatibility with the Zune Marketplace, but will most likely void your warranty, as well. It’s not yet for the unexperienced or faint of heart, but it is something to consider."

If you've never heard of RockBox, you're not alone.  Only use geeks who try to leech every single little bit of power from their devices would be willing to detroy their warranty by completely replacing the operating system on their device.  I was temped once long ago with one of my ancient MP3 players, but I never did it because I was too afraid of hosing my device.  So if you're the adventurous type, you might want to give it a look (when it's ready of course).  I'd be interested if they're able to get more out of the WiFi component with an entirely different firmware...

[Damion Chaplin]

http://www.zune-online.com/news/zune/rockbox-and-zune-walking-together.html

"Though it’s not ready yet, developers are working on a Zune port of Rockbox (on volunteered time, nonetheless), which isn’t much different than the Toshiba Gigabeat port they’d already started work on. This means that sometime in the future, we should see a workable version for download. But before you go and get excited, it’s worth noting that if you run Rockbox on your Zune, you’ll probably not only loose compatibility with the Zune Marketplace, but will most likely void your warranty, as well. It’s not yet for the unexperienced or faint of heart, but it is something to consider."

If you've never heard of RockBox, you're not alone.  Only use geeks who try to leech every single little bit of power from their devices would be willing to detroy their warranty by completely replacing the operating system on their device.  I was temped once long ago with one of my ancient MP3 players, but I never did it because I was too afraid of hosing my device.  So if you're the adventurous type, you might want to give it a look (when it's ready of course).  I'd be interested if they're able to get more out of the WiFi component with an entirely different firmware...

[KTamas]

Rockbox is the single greatest thing ever happened with iPods and iRiver/iAudio/Archos devices. I've had it on my former iPod mini and it was a whole lot better than the original firmware: it supports almost all music file types (including lossless), supports ReplayGain, gapless playback, custom EQs, tons of plugins, etc... too bad I've sold my mini after a week cause of its not-so-great sound quality, and even rockbox couldn't help about that. The only downside of rockbox that it usually uses more battery life than the official firmware of your device.

[flatline response]

Rockbox is a nifty if somewhat techgeek alternative. I gave my out-of-warranty 4G iPod the treatment, and it works pretty well and actually has better SQ than any of the original Apple firmware and updates could ever give it.

[Jason Dunn]

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what they can do with the Zune - but I hope it's more than just making it work like a hard drive...