iPodRocks

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Devices ​

The Devices panel lets you add, edit, and check Rockbox and mountable players.

What it does ​

  • Add Device — Register a new device with name, mount path, model, codec config, and folder layout.
  • Edit Device — Change any device setting.
  • Check Device — Compare what is on the device with the library. Shows synced, codec mismatch, to sync, and orphans.
  • Recheck — Re-read the device after changes (e.g. after a sync or manual file changes).
  • Set as default — Use this device as the default for sync and Genius.

How it works ​

  • Mount path — The root path where the device is mounted (e.g. /media/ipod). iPodRocks expects Music, Podcasts, Audiobooks, and Playlists subfolders (configurable).
  • Codec config — Direct copy (no conversion) or transcode to MP3, AAC, Musepack, Opus, OGG. If you use a shadow library, set the device source to "Shadow" and pick the shadow — no transcoding during sync.
  • Check Device — Scans the device filesystem and compares with the library. "Codec mismatch" means files use a different codec than the device profile (e.g. MP3 on device, OPUS profile); when you sync with Orphan Policy set to "Remove", old-codec files are deleted and replaced by the new codec.
  • Orphans — Files on the device that are not in the library. You can remove them during sync only when Orphan Policy is set to "Remove" (the setting lives in the Sync panel); with "Keep" or "Prompt", orphans are not auto-deleted.

How to work with it ​

  1. Add a device only when it is mounted. Use the real mount path (e.g. /media/ipod, not a symlink if that causes issues).
  2. Choose codec based on device support. Rockbox supports many formats; use direct copy for FLAC/MP3 if the device plays them. Use MPC or Opus for smaller files.
  3. Use shadow libraries when you want to pre-transcode once and sync quickly to multiple devices.
  4. Check Device before syncing to see what will change. Use "Recheck" after a sync to confirm.
  5. Playback log — Enable if you use Genius playlists; iPodRocks reads playback.log from the device for listening history.
  6. Rockbox smart playlists (tagnavi) — When enabled, smart playlists sync as live tagnavi query entries (written to .rockbox/tagnavi_user.config) instead of static .m3u files. Genius, Savant, and Custom playlists always write .m3u regardless of this setting. See Smart Playlists → Rockbox dynamic mode.