In my continuing quest for an MP3 player to replace the XM Satellite Radio in the car, I received delivered to me…a 2G SanDisk Sansa Fuze MP3 player.

So why buy another copy of the exact same player? Well, if you check the comments in my review of the first 2G Fuze, you’ll find from ilamfan a suggestion I look at Rockbox, a free (as in beer and as in speech) replacement firmware for many MP3 players, including the V1 Fuze. I got a really good deal on a reconditioned 2G Fuze at an Internet store (which, for whatever it’s worth, came in looking every bit as shiny and “new” as the first one I purchased, complete with SanDisk earbuds and a charging cable). I figure, if I brick it with Rockbox, I’m not out much cash, and no warranty to speak of…I admit I did get lucky and receive a V1 unit (the software for V1 is “Unstable,” where the software for V2 is “Unusuable”), but I figured my odds were pretty good since the V2 units are relatively new and wouldn’t be in the refurbished bin in the quantities the V1 units would be. I am leaving the original Fuze untouched, so even if this one blows up, I still have something to use to listen to The Bob Edwards Show on my morning walks, even if it is kinda worthless for the intended use in the car.

This one shipped with v01.01.15a of the firmware (check this website for an archive of all the different firmware versions), which while not the most recent does have the silly “exploding SanDisk.” I’m not perfectly clear if I should update the firmware in the Fuze before I install Rockbox (one of the fun, and maddening, things about open-source software is that there generally aren’t a whole lot of instructions), but since I can always replace the dual-loader by installing a fresh version of the SanDisk firmware (I think), I’m going to leave it go for now.

So to the Rockbox website, and download the Rockbox Utility (I’m going to use the Windows version). I realize I don’t even know if the player is supposed to be in MTP (the default, some bizarre Microsoft-designed hybrid) or MSC (my preferred, like a USB flash drive) modes, but a quick check in the Rockbox Untility FAQ says MSC.

I want to format the player as well (the device came pre-installed with the same sample files as the original player did), so I navigate to Settings->System Settings->Format, and…er…it locks up. I hold the power switch open for a bit, it shuts down, I restart, repeat the procedure, and this time everything is fine. It formats, I change USB mode from AutoDetect (the default MTP in Windows) to MSC, and we’re ready to see whether Rockbox is the answer to my problems.

I run the Rockbox Utility, and since I’ve never run it before it asks me for the make of my player - I know it’s a Fuze, but I want to see if the utility does, so I tell it to Autodetect…it fails miserably, so I set the mountpoint and player type manually. I tell it to install, and it begins to download rockbox-sansafuze.zip. Doesn’t take long even though I am pulling other files on another computer, it extracts the file, creates a log, and is finished.

I then (*gulp!*) install the boot loader; basically, I take a copy of the 01.01.15a firmware and allow the Utility to patch it with Rockbox-loading code. When I disconnect the Fuze from this computer, there is no going back…the fuzea.bin file will replace my existing firmware and (at least theoretically) the Rockbox dual-loader will run.

So, here we go…I safely (?) remove the Fuze from the computer, and…Firmware upgrade in Progress…Upgrade Completed…it shuts off. Power on, and there’s Rockbox! Ok, first step, let’s make sure the dual-boot works. Power-down, then power-up with Left button held down, and up comes the original software (including “Refreshing [my] Media” and language request!) Power-down and power-up again, and we’re back to Rockbox.

The settings in Rockbox are, I have to say, somewhat intimidating. Seriously. Heck, not just the settings; there are games, applications, all kinds of junk in there (sorry, guys, the idea of a text editor in an MP3 player with no keyboard doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me). And I’m certain it’ll be a whole lot of fun to play around with sometime (after I find a theme that uses a really big font - hey, I’m old and the screen is small!), but right now we want to experiment with music.

So back to that 8G class 6 microSDHC card. Since I used it for digital video at the recent FOTR convention, I need to reformat it; I used the Panasonic software I mentioned before, and once formatted I add two folders of music (60’s Hits and 70’s Hits), along with three playlists in the root directory (60’s, 70’s, and Decades which contains all the entries in the 60’s and 70’s lists). Power down the unit, insert the card, and power it up.

Understand, I have intentionally not initialized the Database feature of Rockbox, so it started right up. Hit Settings then Playback Settings and turn Shuffle on. Back up to main menu, scroll to Files, and there at the top of the list is the microSDHC card (much like linux, there’s only one monolithic filesystem containing the files in both internal and external memory - this is really hard for people who have only ever used DOS/Windows to wrap their heads around). Select it, and go-for-broke selecting the Decades playlist, crossing my fingers as…

The unit pauses for a few seconds, really not worthy of counting, and *blam* starts playing music. Hit Down to view the playlist…yes, the playlist the software has dynamically created on-the-fly with the over two thousand entries in the Decades playlist shuffled so that the 60s and the 70s have seamlessly melded into the soundtrack of my youth.

Ok, ok, so hyperbole aside (I’ve been getting myself in trouble lately going over-the-top in my verbage), this is exactly what I wanted in a player…the ability to set up my own playlists of various genres of music, and have a player just randomize and play the d*mned things without needing to endlessly think about what it wanted to do first!

However, there is one issue that needs to be dealt with before this unit can go into the car. While the SansaAMS page at Rockbox.org says the unit properly handles charging/battery management, any time the charging cable is plugged in the unit immediately reboots into the original Sansa firmware, assuming it’s been plugged into a computer even if only plugged into a wall outlet. Which means the unit would need to run on battery power during playback, and couldn’t run off of the car’s electrical power. I’m certain this will be fixed eventually, and so will be keeping my eye on the website to see when it is.

In the meantime…I need to figure out how to play Blackjack on this thing…