Hi all. I'm new to this forum. I own a PineTime with InfiniTime, and it's rather nice - though the LCD seems to be slowly delaminating itself from the digitizer... I should probably make a separate post about that.
Here's my suggestion: why not make a PINE64 "MP3" player? Not limited to only MP3, of course.
I'm thinking of a combination of the Apple iPod Video, the Microsoft Zune Flash, and the Sansa Clip+.
(Yes, I've used a Zune. Gawk if you must, but it was rather nice - until I found out that it had no Unicode support.)
As to why I chose those media players, here are a "few" prerequisites for a media player, for me personally:
Bluetooth would be nice, too, though not a prerequisite for me. So would Wi-Fi for syncing, or perhaps for streaming - I don't do the latter, but I'm sure many others do.
I'm sure most people would also expect a high-quality DAC, but honestly, I can't hear a difference.
In terms of the body of such a media player, something like a Zune would be nice - a plastic front with a brushed metal back; something I don't have to put in a case...
Basically, my dream MP3 player is just a Zune Flash with Rockbox and a microSD card slot.
Such a thing may be niche, but PINE64 made an eInk tablet, for gosh sake... ;)
Maybe I'm just looking for a smaller PinePhone - something like the Zune HD. Or an early iPod touch, in layman's terms.
Hm, am I forgetting anything? Well, this post is already rather long, so...
Tell me what you think!
Here's my suggestion: why not make a PINE64 "MP3" player? Not limited to only MP3, of course.
I'm thinking of a combination of the Apple iPod Video, the Microsoft Zune Flash, and the Sansa Clip+.
(Yes, I've used a Zune. Gawk if you must, but it was rather nice - until I found out that it had no Unicode support.)
As to why I chose those media players, here are a "few" prerequisites for a media player, for me personally:
- The ability to run Rockbox, and all that comes with it (i.e. the vast array of audio codec support) - or at least an intuitive OS + UI that shares some similarity with Rockbox: i.e. a playlist-centric mindset, ability to copy-paste media from a PC, navigation of media by folder, etc.
- A powerful enough CPU, or perhaps a coprocessor, such that MP4 (or other video) playback would be possible - a la the Zune
- (Anything beyond MPEG-1/2 support would have to be added to Rockbox - I believe the reason is that no MP3 player supported by Rockbox has a powerful enough CPU for that kind of decoding)
- A compact form factor - something that could fit in my pocket, and that isn't as tall as, say, a PinePhone ;)
- An intuitive form of UI navigation, a la the iPod's "click wheel" or the Zune's "Zune Pad" - not sure about the legality of such a thing, though (concerning patents)
- (Personally, I'd rather not use a touchscreen - hence why I don't just buy a PinePhone and turn off all the comms...)
- Expandable storage, a la the Sansa Clip+ - i.e. internal eMMC + (micro)SD card, etc.
- A headphone jack, of course!
Bluetooth would be nice, too, though not a prerequisite for me. So would Wi-Fi for syncing, or perhaps for streaming - I don't do the latter, but I'm sure many others do.
I'm sure most people would also expect a high-quality DAC, but honestly, I can't hear a difference.
In terms of the body of such a media player, something like a Zune would be nice - a plastic front with a brushed metal back; something I don't have to put in a case...
Basically, my dream MP3 player is just a Zune Flash with Rockbox and a microSD card slot.
Such a thing may be niche, but PINE64 made an eInk tablet, for gosh sake... ;)
Maybe I'm just looking for a smaller PinePhone - something like the Zune HD. Or an early iPod touch, in layman's terms.
Hm, am I forgetting anything? Well, this post is already rather long, so...
Tell me what you think!