Rockbox lets you browse your music in either of two ways. The File Browser lets you navigate through the files and directories on your player, entering directories and executing the default action on each file. To help differentiate files, each file format is displayed with an icon.
The Database Browser, on the other hand, allows you to navigate through the music on your player using categories like album, artist, genre, etc.
You can select whether to browse using the File Browser or the Database Browser by selecting either Files or Database in the Main Menu. If you choose the File Browser, the Show Files setting lets you select what types of files you wish to view. See section 8.2 for more information on the Show Files setting.
Note: The File Browser allows you to manipulate your files in ways that are not available within the Database Browser. Read more about Database in section 4.2. The remainder of this section deals with the File Browser.
Key | Action |
Minus/Plus | Go to previous/next item in list. If you are on the first/last entry, the cursor will wrap to the last/first entry. |
Stop | Go to the parent directory. |
Play | Execute the default action on the selected file or enter a directory. |
On | If there is an audio file playing, return to the While Playing Screen (WPS) without stopping playback. |
Long Play | Enter the Context Menu. |
Menu | Enter the Main Menu. |
Menu + On | Activate the Hotkey function (see section 4.5). |
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The Context Menu allows you to perform certain operations on files or directories. To access
the Context Menu, position the selector over a file or directory and access the context menu
with Long Play.
Note: The Context Menu is a context sensitive menu. If the Context Menu is invoked on a
file, it will display options available for files. If the Context Menu is invoked on a directory, it
will display options for directories.
The Context Menu contains the following options (unless otherwise noted, each option pertains both to files and directories):
Note: If you have Auto-Change Directory and Constrain Auto-Change enabled, the directories returned will be constrained to the directory you have chosen here and those below it. See section 7.9
This is the virtual keyboard that is used when entering text in Rockbox, for example when renaming a file or creating a new directory.
The current text line to be entered or edited is always listed on the first line of the display. The second line of the display can contain the character selection bar, as in the screenshot above.
Key | Action |
On | Toggle picker- and line edit mode. |
Minus / Plus | Move back and forth in the selected line (picker of input line). |
Play | Pick character in character bar, or act as backspace in the text line. |
Long Play | Accept |
Stop | Cancel |
Menu | Flip picker lines. |
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This chapter describes the Rockbox music database system. Using the information contained in the tags (ID3v1, ID3v2) in your audio files, Rockbox builds and maintains a database of the music files on your player and allows you to browse them by Artist, Album, Genre, Song Name, etc. The criteria the database uses to sort the songs can be completely customised. More information on how to achieve this can be found on the Rockbox website at DataBase.
The first time you use the database, Rockbox will scan your disk for audio files. This can take quite a while depending on the number of files on your player. This scan happens in the background, so you can choose to return to the Main Menu and continue to listen to music. If you shut down your player, the scan will continue next time you turn it on. After the scan is finished you may be prompted to restart your player before you can use the database.
You may have directories on your player whose contents should not be added to the database. Placing a file named database.ignore in a directory will exclude the files in that directory and all its subdirectories from scanning their tags and adding them to the database. This will speed up the database initialization.
If a subdirectory of an ‘ignored’ directory should still be scanned, place a file named database.unignore in it. The files in that directory and its subdirectories will be scanned and added to the database.
Warning: Initialize Now removes all database files (removing runtimedb data also) and rebuilds the database from scratch.
Once the database has been initialized, you can browse your music by Artist, Album, Genre,
Song Name, etc. To use the database, go to the Main Menu and select Database.
Note: You may need to increase the value of the Max Entries in File Browser setting
(Settings → General Settings → System → Limits) in order to view long lists of tracks in the
ID3 database browser.
There is no option to turn off database completely. If you do not want to use it just do not do the initial build of the database and do not load it to RAM.
Tag | Type | Origin |
filename | string | system |
album | string | id tag |
albumartist | string | id tag |
artist | string | id tag |
comment | string | id tag |
composer | string | id tag |
genre | string | id tag |
grouping | string | id tag |
title | string | id tag |
bitrate | numeric | id tag |
discnum | numeric | id tag |
year | numeric | id tag |
tracknum | numeric | id tag/filename |
autoscore | numeric | runtime db |
lastplayed | numeric | runtime db |
playcount | numeric | runtime db |
Pm (play time - min) | numeric | runtime db |
Ps (play time - sec) | numeric | runtime db |
rating | numeric | runtime db |
commitid | numeric | system |
entryage | numeric | system |
length | numeric | system |
Lm (track len - min) | numeric | system |
Ls (track len - sec) | numeric | system |
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The While Playing Screen (WPS) displays various pieces of information about the currently playing audio file.
Note:
See section 11.2 for details of customising your WPS (While Playing Screen).
Key | Action |
Menu + Plus / Menu + Minus | Volume up/down. |
Minus | Go to beginning of track, or if pressed while in the first seconds of a track, go to the previous track. |
Long Minus | Rewind in track. |
Plus | Go to the next track. |
Long Plus | Fast forward in track. |
Play | Toggle play/pause. |
Stop | Stop playback. |
On | Return to the File Browser / Database. |
Long Play | Enter WPS Context Menu. |
Menu | Enter Main Menu. |
Menu+Stop | Key lock (software hold switch) on/off. |
Menu+Play | Mute on/off. |
Menu + On | Activate the Hotkey function (see section 4.5). |
Short Plus + Long Plus | Skip to the next directory. |
Short Minus + Long Minus | Skip to the previous directory. |
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Like the context menu for the File Browser, the WPS Context Menu allows you quick access to some often used functions.
The Playlist submenu allows you to view, save, search and reshuffle the current playlist. These and other operations are detailed in section 4.4. To change settings for the Playlist Viewer press Long Play while viewing the current playlist to bring up the Playlist Viewer Menu. In this menu, you can find the Playlist Viewer Settings.
This is a shortcut to the Sound Settings Menu, where you can configure volume, bass, treble, and other settings affecting the sound of your music. See section 6 for more information.
This is a shortcut to the Playback Settings Menu, where you can configure shuffle, repeat, party mode, skip length and other settings affecting the playback of your music.
The menu entry is only shown if Gather Runtime Information is enabled. It allows the assignment of a personal rating value (0 – 10) to a track which can be displayed in the WPS and used in the Database browser. The value wraps at 10.
This allows you to create a bookmark in the currently-playing track.
This screen is accessible from the WPS screen, and provides a detailed view of all the identity information about the current track. This info is known as meta data and is stored in audio file formats to keep information on artist, album etc. To access this screen, press Long Play to access the WPS Context Menu and select Show Track Info. Use Minus and Plus to move through the information.
This Open With function is the same as the Open With function in the file browser’s Context Menu.
Delete the currently playing file. The file will be deleted but the playback of the file will not stop immediately. Instead, the part of the file that has already been buffered (i.e. read into the player’s memory) will be played. This may even be the whole track.
Some common terms that are used in Rockbox when referring to playlists:
Rockbox can create playlists in four different ways.
Whenever a song is selected from the File Browser with Play, Rockbox will automatically create a playlist containing all of the songs in that directory and start playback with the selected song.
Note: If you already have created a dynamic playlist, playing a new song will erase the current dynamic playlist and create a new one. If you want to add a song to the current playlist rather than erasing the current playlist, see the section below on how to add music to a playlist.
If playback is stopped, the Insert and Queue functions can be used as described in 4.4.3 to create a new playlist instead of adding to an existing one. This will erase any dynamic playlist.
The Playlist catalogue makes it possible to modify and create playlists that are not currently playing. To do this select Playlist catalogue in the Context Menu. There you will have two choices, Add to playlist adds the selected track or directory to an existing playlist and Add to a new playlist creates a new playlist containing the selected track or directory.
Note: All playlists in the Playlist catalogue are stored by default in the /Playlists directory in the root of your player’s disk and playlists stored in other locations are not included in the catalogue. It is however possible to move existing playlists there (see section 4.1.2).
To create a playlist containing all music on your player, you can use the Create Playlist command in the Playlists menu found in the Main Menu. The created playlist will be named root.m3u8 and saved in the root of your player’s disk.
The Playlist Submenu is a submenu in the Context Menu (see section 4.1.2), it allows you to put tracks into a “dynamic playlist”. If there is no music currently playing, Rockbox will create a new dynamic playlist and put the selected track(s) into it. If there is music currently playing, Rockbox will put the selected track(s) into the current playlist. The place in which the newly selected tracks are added to the playlist is determined by the following options:
The Playlist Submenu can be used to add either single tracks or entire directories to a playlist. If the Playlist Submenu is invoked on a single track, it will put only that track into the playlist. On the other hand, if the Playlist Submenu is invoked on a directory, Rockbox adds all of the tracks in that directory to the playlist.
Note: You can control whether or not Rockbox includes the contents of subdirectories when adding an entire directory to a playlist. Set the Settings → General Settings → Playlist → Recursively Insert Directories setting to Yes if you would like Rockbox to include tracks in subdirectories as well as tracks in the currently-selected directory.
Dynamic playlists are saved so resume will restore them exactly as they were before shutdown.
Note: To view, save or reshuffle the current dynamic playlist use the Playlist sub menu in the WPS context menu or in the Main Menu.
Reshuffling the current playlist is easily done from the Playlist sub menu in the WPS, just select Reshuffle.
To move or remove a track from the current playlist enter the Playlist Viewer by selecting View Current Playlist in the Playlist submenu in the WPS context menu or the Main Menu. Once in the Playlist Viewer open the context menu on the track you want to move or remove. If you want to move the track, select Move in the context menu and then move the blinking cursor to the place where you want the track to be moved and confirm with Play. To remove a track, simply select Remove in the context menu.
To save the current playlist either enter the Playlist submenu in the WPS Context Menu (see section 4.3.2) and select Save Current Playlist or enter the Playlist Options menu in the Main Menu and select Save Current Playlist. Either method will bring you to the Virtual Keyboard (see section 4.1.3), enter a filename for your playlist and accept it and you are done.
Playlist files, like regular music tracks, can be selected through the File Browser. When loading a playlist from disk it will replace the current dynamic playlist.
The Playlist catalogue offers a shortcut to all playlists in your player’s specified playlist directory. It can be used like the File Browser.
Hotkeys are shortcut keys for use in the File Browser and WPS screen. To use one, press Menu + On within the File Browser or Menu + On within the WPS screen. The assigned function will launch with reference to the current file or directory, if applicable. Each screen has its own assignment. If there is no assignment for a given screen, the hotkey is ignored.
The default assignment for the File Browser hotkey is Off, while the default for the WPS hotkey is View Playlist.
The hotkey assignments are changed in the Hotkey menu (see section 8.10) under General Settings.