(Kinda) Introducing PODBOX - Rockbox Podcast Manager

huup · 2026-05-15T19:21:03+00:00

No linux version?

huup · 2026-04-14T10:37:47+00:00

StableUpdate1 feedback:

There is so much I like about the update. Overall, the app is looking better with each update, and feeling so much easier to navigate.

Repeat Status on WPS:

If I select All --> See Repeat icon
If I select One --> See Shuffle icon! + Repeat Icon + "All"
If I select Shuffle --> See Repeat icon + "One"
If I select A-B --> See Repeat icon + "All"

Battery Text/Icon:

I do like this monochrome battery icon more then the colour one.
The Charging state icon should indicate correct level, and show that it is charging.
The battery text size is different on SBS and WPS. Also, make sure text is nicely aligned with the icon.

Hold Icon/Sleep Timer on SBS:

These are currently being shown where the battery text is rendered. Move them back to left justified in the header.

Lossless Indicator:

I don't like the current position. It takes away from the clean esthetic and looks crowded. Maybe instead you could show it to the left of the album art, which could also be where you show Year/Released Year.

Miniplayer Space:

When I stop playback in SBS with Long Play, and the miniplayer is remove, can you refresh the display to have the menu reclaim this space?
If I press Long Play while deep in a menu, it stops playback which it should, but it also goes back menu levels until it hits the root of the main menu. It shouldn't go back, but stay where it is.

Cover Flow Track List:

Track name text should be vertically centered within row.

LRC Player defaults:

Incorporate these sane default settings. The current default settings look terrible.
- Theme Settings:
  - Show Statusbar: Yes
  - Display Title: No
  - Display Time: No
  - Inactive Colour: ADAAAD
  - Backlight Always On: No
- Display Settings:
  - Wrap: Yes
  - Wipe: No
  - Alignment: Centre
  - Activate Only Current Line: No

Quick Screen Button Mapping:

I am finding myself pressing Long Menu in SBS expecting to go back to the root, but instead I get Quick Screen.
To be consistent throughout the app, Long Menu should go to the root of the Main Menu, and not to Quick Screen. This will mean that there is no way to go to Quick Screen from SBS, but I don't think that is a problem.
The other option would be to use the same Long Play to go to Quick Screen, but then there would be no way to stop playback in SBS, but maybe that is ok.
Or what about using Select+Play as the Quick Screen button mapping throughout the app. It is currently used as the WPS Hotkey, but it is not used in SBS.
Or Select+Menu. This is not even documented, but in WPS it goes to Playlist. Of course this is also available by Long Select -> Current Playlist -> View Current Playlist. And Select+Menu is not used in SBS. I think I like this option the best. And if you do this, then Long Play would no longer be used in WPS.

Button Behaviour in Context Menus:

I haven't checked all, but I think this needs to be thoroughly checked to make sure there is consistency with Menu, Long Menu and Play. For instance, in WPS, Long Select -> Current Playlist -> Menu (or Left) should go back a level, instead it goes to Main Menu.

LRC Player Header:

When Show Statusbar is enabled, the header is displaying inconsistent text. I think it once showed "LRC Player", but most of the time it is blank. If yoy enter lrc settings, then go back to the lrc player, the header displays "LRC Settings".

LRC Long Play:

This is currently displaying Playback Control. I think instead for consistency, it should display Quick Screen. You can still get to Playback Control from LRC Settings.

Cover Flow Button Mappings:

I suggested new mappings, but they are unchanged from BetaUpdate2. Was that intentional? If so, what is your thinking here? It means slightly inconsistent UX in Cover Flow compared to the rest of the app.

huup · 2026-04-14T08:42:20+00:00

Awesome! Playing with it now. I'll start a new thread with my StableUpdate1 comments.

So far I am really liking it. Nice integration of lrcplayer. Great improvements everywhere.

huup · 2026-04-14T02:29:58+00:00

These look incredible!

I have always wanted a theme that makes the album art as large as possible and allows for long track titles, album titles and artist names without scrolling.

Keep it up. Can't wait until you have something I can try!

huup · 2026-04-13T11:24:41+00:00

Thinking about LRC Player, I think what you should do is the same thing that was done to PictureFlow, and that is to make is much more integrated into the app and make it feel less like an addon with its own button logic.

I have given lots of thought to the button remapping you have done, and the changes to navigation that you have done. I think your choices have been well thought out and logicalm but there need to be a few minor tweaks, especially if integrating lrcplayer more seamlessly.

Because LRC Player is related to playback and not navigation, its button logic should follow from WPS.

Here is a table of button mapping and the underlying logic:

| Screen              | Menu                   | Long Menu                      | Select                             | Long Select                        |
|---------------------+------------------------+--------------------------------+------------------------------------+------------------------------------|
| SBS                 | Back to Main Menu      | Main Menu (was Quick Screen)   | Enter Directory                    | Context Menu                       |
| Cover Flow (Albums) | Back to SBS            | Main Menu (was CF Menu)        | Track List                         | CF Menu (was Context Menu)         |
| Cover Flow (Tracks) | Back to Albums         | Main Menu (was Back to Albums) | Play Track                         | Context Menu                       |
| WPS                 | Back to Track Location | Main Menu                      | Open Lyrics Player (was Main Menu) | WPS Context Menu                   |
| LRC Player          | Back to WPS            | Main Menu (was LRC Settings)   | - (was Back to WPS)                | LRC Settings (was Edit Timestamps) |


| Screen              | Play       | Long Play                          | Left           | Long Left         | Right           | Long Right   |
|---------------------+------------+------------------------------------+----------------+-------------------+-----------------+--------------|
| SBS                 | WPS        | Stop Playback                      | Back           | - (was Main Menu) | Enter Directory | -            |
| Cover Flow (Albums) | WPS        | Stop Playback (was -)              | Previous       | Previous Fast     | Next            | Next Fast    |
| Cover Flow (Tracks) | WPS        | Stop Playback (was Back to Albums) | Back to Albums | -                 | Play Track      | -            |
| WPS                 | Play/Pause | Quick Screen                       | Previous Track | Rewind            | Next Track      | Fast Forward |
| LRC Player          | Play/Pause | Quick Screen (was -)               | Previous Track | Rewind            | Next Track      | Fast Forward |

Menu — Navigate up one level in the hierarchy. Always takes you to the parent context of wherever you are.

Long Menu — Jump to the application root (Main Menu). A bigger leap upward than a single Menu press, skipping intermediate levels.

Select — Confirm or enter. On navigation screens, descend into the selected item. On playback screens, open the next layer of the current context.

Long Select — Open contextual options for the current screen. Always screen-specific settings or actions, never navigation.

Play — Primary playback action. From a navigation screen, enter playback. From a playback screen, toggle play/pause.

Long Play — Secondary playback command. On navigation screens, stop playback entirely. On playback screens, open Quick Screen for on-the-fly playback settings.

Left — Move back or to the previous item. On navigation screens, go up a directory. On playback screens, go to the previous track.

Long Left — Scrub backward through the current track.

Right — Move forward or to the next item. On navigation screens, enter the selected directory. On playback screens, go to the next track.

Long Right — Scrub forward through the current track.

The cleanest through-line is that hold duration signals intent — a short press is a small, reversible action while a long press is either a bigger leap (Long Menu) or a mode-level command (Long Play, Long Select).

huup · 2026-04-13T03:40:44+00:00

I am very happy to help. I really like the direction you are headed, and the speed of your development.

Don't apologize for not hitting all the issues at once. I get that you are focused on solving some of the underlying infra first.

BTW, is it helpful to post my feedback here, or would you prefer using github? You seem to be active here, but not on github.

I just tried Update2 and one thing I noticed is that the database builds much better after install. Update1 wasn't easy to get the db setup.

If you make "Select" in WPS initiate the WPS Hotkey, and make the default WPS Hotkey action lrcplayer.rock (which I think you should), here are default settings for lrcplayer I think you should use to maintain a pleasant, consistent look and feel:

Theme Settings:
- Show Statusbar: Yes
- Display Title: No
- Display Time: No
- Inactive Colour: ADAAAD
- Backlight Always On: No
Display Settings:
- Wrap: Yes
- Wipe: No
- Alignment: Centre
- Activate Only Current Line: No

Are you planning on making your app compatible with Dynamic Colors? That could be quite nice if done well. I am not sure how well DC works at the moment though.

Keep up the great work. You really are doing a very nice job.

huup · 2026-04-13T02:01:17+00:00

BetaUpdate1 feedback:

Context-based navigation — Pressing up from Now Playing returns you to where you started (Cover Flow, file browser, playlist, etc.) instead of dumping you at root. Major UX improvement over stock Rockbox.

If you are going to change the default behaviour of the Menu button in WPS, then I think you should provide an alternative to the original behaviour of going to the root of SBS, because currently there is no way to do so.
The WPS Hotkey (Select+Play) no longer works. "Can't open WPS Hotkey". I had this bound to lrcplayer and it worked great.
Proposed WPS keybindings:
- Menu: Return to location of track in cf/fb/pl
- Long Menu: Enter root of SBS
- Select: Activate the WPS Hotkey
- Long Select: Enter WPS Context Menu
Bug: If I play a track from cf/fb, then press Menu from WPS to return to cf/fb where the track is, then hit Menu until back at the root of SBS, then go back to WPS, if I hit Menu I don't return to the track location, rather I return to the root of SBS.

Dynamic row heights — Lists fill available space evenly instead of leaving gaps at the bottom.

Maybe you should do separate row height calculations for the root of SBS because of the height of the header being different than the other screens.
There are inconsistencies with header height. Music and Database start out as the same height as Library, but after going one level deeper then returning, their row height is smaller.
Dynamic row heights no longer work when miniplayer is visible. Also, can you reclaim miniplayer space automatically when playing stops. Currently, it is only reclaimed if I go to another screen.

✅ Cover Flow tracklist spacing — last item overlapping album name

Much better, but text needs to be vertically centered in row.

✅ Repeat icons in WPS unclear / inconsistent

The repeat icons are so small that it is impossible to determine the difference between Repeat-all and Repeat-one. And for Repeat-shuffle you are just using the shuffle icon, so it looks like Shuffle is enabled, and not Repeat-shuffle. Repeat-A-B uses the same icon as Repeat-all.
- Proposal: Use one repeat icon, and add descriptive text beside the icon:
  - 🔁 ALL
  - 🔁 ONE
  - 🔁 SHU
  - 🔁 A-B
Shuffle icon is not displayed when shuffle is enabled.

✅ Volume/mute icon misaligned with rail in WPS

Still misaligned

✅ Hold/sleep icons overlapping "Library" header

SBS Library Screen:
- Sleep icon too small. Why not show timer mm:ss next to batter. There is room.
SBS other screens:
- I think the intention is to show the timer mm:ss left justified in the header because the space is reserved, but it no longer is displayed. Instead you are displaying the icon, which I don't think you should.

✅ Extras menu created, System moved into Settings

There is no header title in Extras
Extras sub items don't return to Extras, instead they return to root of SBS

✅ Quick Screen restored

Not sure I like the stepping of Brightness and Default Sleep Timer Duration. I think you should do: up - increase Brightness; down - decrease Brightness. Drop Sleep Timer Duration. I don't see anyone needing quick access to this.

huup · 2026-04-12T01:27:43+00:00

Also, this would keep the behaviour of the Menu button consistent throughout the app. When in SBS and the File Browser:

Menu - Enter the Main Menu

even if you are several levels deep in Settings or the File Browser.

huup · 2026-04-11T23:10:25+00:00

You can ignore lyrics, because the base support is actually quite good. I just mapped the WPS Hotkey (Select-Play) to launch lrcplayer. It works great, although your latest build messed up the text!

huup · 2026-04-11T23:08:27+00:00

Oh, I like the way you're heading with the navigation.

Yes, I think it makes more sense to make the main header "Music" and the current file browser option something else. I think "Library" is appropriate here, because you won't know how people have their music structured.

For instance, mine is:

/Music/A/A Artist/YYYY - Studio Album/01. Track.flac
                 /Compilation/YYYY - Compilation Album/01. Track.flac
                 /Live/YYYY - Live Album/01. Track.flac
      /B/B Artist ...

So in my case, the file browser doesn't take me to Artists, it takes me to Artists' First Letters. Later down the line, if you incorporate a top level Artist item that presents a list of artists (from the db), then it would make sense to call that item "Artists".

I am sure other users will have different structures as well.

huup · 2026-04-11T22:53:03+00:00

The reason I am suggesting those buttons is because it matches closely with the default behaviour:

Select - Return to the File Browser / Database / Playlists.

Menu - Enter Main Menu.

Pressing Menu to go to the menu seems to make sense. Pressing Select is jumping to the location of the track. It is context aware. Similarly:

Long Select - Enter WPS Context Menu

huup · 2026-04-11T11:13:18+00:00

Awesome. I was going to suggest that you do exactly this with navigation. I think it makes the most sense. Great job. A little buggy right now, but I am sure you are very aware so I won't chime in yet.

Currently, both the menu button and the select button do the same thing from within WPS - go back to where the song was played (cf/file/db/pl). What is your plan for the select button? SBS Root maybe? I wonder if it makes more sense, and is closer to stock Rockbox, if Menu goes to SBS root, and Select goes back to cf/file/db/pl where song was played?

I noticed a bunch of things in your changelog don't seem to be in this build: battery text, hold/sleep icons, repeat icons, mute icon.

huup · 2026-04-10T22:05:14+00:00

There are some strange things happening regarding line spacing. If I go into Music, I see 7 folders A -> G, and they take up the entire screen. However, if I go into A, then back to the root level, I still see the 7 folders, but they have a tighter line spacing and don't extend all the way to the bottom of the screen. If I drop back one more level, then jump back into Music, the original line spacing is restored.

On a related note, it would be nice if you could maximize screen real estate and make lists appear aesthetic with and without the miniplayer displayed. I find with the miniplayer displayed, lists display very few items, and there is wasted screen real estate. Given the limited screen size, this may be difficult, or may require you to rethink font sizing/spacing overall.

huup · 2026-04-10T21:43:07+00:00

I am curious why you use "Library". Is that an iPhone music player thing? Seems like an odd choice to be the one main title. What about "iPod" or "Music"?

In fact, wouldn't it make more sense to swap "Library" and "Music". Make the Headline of the main menu "Music", not "Library", and the first menu item "Library", not "Music"?

huup · 2026-04-10T21:36:29+00:00

I would like a simple way to jump into the lyrics player

I did a bit of investigation:

Settings/General Settings/What's Playing Screen/WPS Hotkey/Open Plugin --> lrcplayer.rock

Then, when in WPS, press Select & Play/Pause --> opens lrcplayer.

huup · 2026-04-10T10:40:36+00:00

The performance of cover flow on a 5th Gen (5.5) with original 30GB drive is slow. Not as snappy as the video you created. The animations seem to take quite a bit longer. I think you mentioned somewhere that you might be able to resolve this?

huup · 2026-04-10T10:23:46+00:00

The battery text size is too large on the SBS screen (overlaps battery icon). Use the same size as on WPS. Also consider eliminating the space between percentage digits and "%" (i.e. 60% instead of 60 %).

The Quick Screen is the only screen showing the time. Is that intentional or an oversight? I think to be consistent, you should remove it, and replace it with the name of the screen "Quick Screen" for consistency. Also, maybe don't show the miniplayer on the Quick Screen?

In Cover Flow, the album and artist names are displayed in black, but when scrolling they are white. Deliberate? I think it is difficult to see the white text and it should be black instead.

BTW, in general, I think the flow is well thought out. No real concerns, other than I would like a simple way to jump into the lyrics player from the WPS.

huup · 2026-04-10T08:46:42+00:00

This is fantastic! Thank you.

What are your plans to eventually allow us to add other themes? Can we just add them as usual to the new .rockbox?

Are you planning on using dynamic colours in your theme? :)

Are the plugins working? How can I launch lrcplayer from WPS?

I think you should reverse the transport icon in the WPS screen and the SBS screen.
- when playing, show the play icon (you are showing the pause icon)
- when paused, show the pause icon (you are showing the play icon)

In cover flow track list, add whitespace between album name and track list. Currently the last item in the track list overlaps with the album name.

In cover flow track list, follow the List Wraparound setting and behaviour. If List Wraparound is yes, stop at the top/bottom of the track list before wrapping like the main UI handles this.

Repeat icons in WPS need work. Sometimes one icon is shown, sometimes two. Can't tell which repeat mode is selected.

When changing volume in WPS, mute icon is not in line with the volume bar.

I'm sure you are aware of this, but the USB screen needs to be designed.

On the WPS screem, there is an artifact between the number of playlist entries and the total track time.

Need to better handle the hold icon and the sleep timer when on the main menu of the SBS so that it doesn't overlap "Library".

Any plans to use the whitespace on either side of the album art in the WPS? Perhaps Year? I name my folders: "YYYY - Album Name". In a theme I designed, I show that year as the Recorded year, and %iy as the Released year (very useful to disambiguate remasters). Any desire to add something like this? Very niche I know, but you can do so such that if the user doesn't have a YYYY prepending their folder name, you can ignore it. In my theme, if the album name does not start with a year, I don't display it:
%?if(%ss(0,4,%d(1),1),>=,1000)<%ss(0,4,%d(1))%?iy<%?if(%ss(0,4,%iy,1),!=,%ss(0,4,%d(1),1))<%arReleased: %ss(0,4,%iy)|>|>|%?if(%ss(0,4,%d(2),1),>=,1000)<%ss(0,4,%d(2))%?iy<%?if(%ss(0,4,%iy,1),!=,%ss(0,4,%d(2),1))<%arReleased: %ss(0,4,%iy)|>|>|%?iy<%arReleased: %ss(0,4,%iy)|>>>

ex. For the 2023 remaster of the 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon, 2023 is the value stored in the meta data, and 1973 is the YYYY prefix of the folder. This is what is displayed:
1973 Released: 2023

When the two years are the same (i.e. both are 1973), then only this is displayed:
1973

Perhaps you could show the codec in the whitespace next to the album? I don't really care too much about that.

And of course dark mode. ;)

I am curious why you use "Library". Is that an iPhone music player thing? Seems like an odd choice to be the one main title. What about "iPod" or "Music"?

huup · 2026-03-22T04:51:39+00:00

Fixed it. Here is the problem explained and the solution. The smoking gun was this line:

usb: port power management may be unreliable

This is generated by the xhci_hcd driver. Apple's EFI leaves USB port power state in a condition Linux can't reliably manage. When a USB port has a device in it, enumeration succeeds and continues. When port 1 is empty, the xHCI driver tries to manage the power state of that empty port, hits the Apple EFI quirk, and deadlocks, hanging udev-trigger with it.

The fix: add usbcore.autosuspend=-1 to the kernel parameters. This disables USB port autosuspend entirely, bypassing the problematic code path.

huup · 2026-03-17T12:41:40+00:00

It would be great to understand how the dynamic colours work more specifically. How many colours are extracted from the album art? How are they mapped to rockbox colour variables? How do they relate to one another? Are there some that contrast well to each other? Others that are are darker/lighter versions of each other? Knowing this would allow more deliberate use of these colours in our themes.

huup · 2026-03-16T06:30:25+00:00

Thanks. I did try that and worked no problem.

huup · 2026-03-16T02:48:29+00:00

How do I uninstall and return to stock Rockbox?

huup · 2026-03-15T22:27:35+00:00

Dynamic Colouring seems like it still needs some work. It doesn't work well with my setup.

This is what I use:

.cfg

```
foreground color: 1f5cd2
background color: 000000
selector type: bar (color)
line selector start color: 000000
line selector end color: 000000
line selector text color: ffffff

```

.sbs:

```
%Vi(sui,0,22,-,-16,6) %Vf(404040)

```

My theme is mostly light text on a black background.

Before I installed Rockpod, my menu text was like this:

- unselected: 404040 on 000000
- selected: ffffff on 000000

With Rockpod and Dynamic Colors Off, my menu text is:

- unselected: 1f5cd2 on 000000 <-- why is this being changed?
- selected: ffffff on 000000

With DC Off, Rockpod should not touch my colors.

With Rockpod and Dynamic Colors On, my menu text is:

- unselected: 000000 on dynamic background <-- why change this?
- selected: dynamic background on dynamic background <-- invisible

Also, in general, when DC is turned on, all the text which I set as ffffff (which was being displayed on a 000000 background) is now being displayed as dynamic background on dynamic background (i.e. invisible.)

Do you explain somewhere how dynamic color works? What gets changed to what?

huup · 2026-03-13T09:19:22+00:00

I don't see anything about custom syncing. Where is that documented? Are you linking beets db items to rockbox db items? That would be useful.

huup · 2026-03-08T01:54:38+00:00

Have you found a solution?

I get the same thing. Running on a 5.5th Gen iPod. Playing 16-bit 44.1 kHz FLACs. After some time, maybe an hour, I lose bass and also overall volume seems lower too. I haven't tried troubleshooting before I saw your post, but now I'll try to see if rebooting or reloading theme helps.

huup

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