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rsync -a --delete --exclude "*.jpg" --size-only ~/music/ /mnt/iriver
iripdb /mnt/iriver

Indeed, the database for the iRiver is optional.

However, you also have the option of creating it under Linux using iRipDB http://www.marevalo.net/iRipDB/, since I believe iRiver made the database spec open.

It is possible to create a database from Linux, too, with iRipDB

It's about as supported on OSX as it is on Linux or Windows, the one exception being that there is a Windows only tool to create a database of all your mp3's ID3 tags, allowing you to play based on genre, etc... I believe there is an OSS project to do this for unix-y systems, haven't tried it. Haven't even tried the program iRiver supplies either--mostly due to the fact that it dosent work (at the moment, anyway) with oggs.

Isn't the database needed to enable searching? And, iRipDB is the Unix-y tool of which you speak, but there's no OSX port so far :(.

My problem with the iRiver is that you can't browse the contents by the ID3 tag content - only filenames.

To explain to everybody else: The iRiver comes with software that scans the portable's drive and builds a database from your ID3 tags. You can then flip an option in the iRiver's menus and it will let you browse by the contents of this database, rather than by filenames.

There are a couple of problems with this, though. First, the software is Windows-only. Second, it only supports MP3s, even though the device itself understands OGG comments. Third, it's buggy. Apparently there are unnatural limits on the length of the filenames and the paths to the filenames.

Then I discovered that there are, in fact, a couple of projects either ready or in the works to build iRiver database software for other platforms:

• iRipDB is the oldest. It's written in C, and compiles on Linux. The easiest way to get it to compile on BSD or Mac OS X is to track down JFTW, which implements the missing routines needed to walk a filesystem. You'll also need the appropriate third-party libraries for OGG and ID3 support (unlike the supplied software, it handles both). It doesn't seem to have the filename/path limitations of the supplied software. It's command-line only and a little clunky, but thankfully the author has also supplied documentation for the database file format, so you can use this as a basis to write our own software in some other language, if you choose.
• This guy seems to have taken that spec and written something in Python, which requires the appropriate ID3 and OGG libraries for Python. I don't do much mucking around with Python myself, so having got the C version working I didn't bother with this one, though it might be superior.
• ihptool is another utility, written -- mysteriously enough -- in C#. Haven't looked at this one much.
• iFish wants to do it in Java, which sounds like a good, cross-platform idea, and he claims things like fast database updates that only write the changes; but so far hasn't released anything.

I'm told the iRiver can do searches on the whole database, which might be handy. But I quickly realized that the main reason it would be handy was because ID3 tags are often corrupted. If you have albums by "Police" and "The Police," they'll show up in two totally different areas of the ID3 navigation. Not so if you manually threw them both into the same directory in the filesystem. There's no way to manually modify ID3 tags with the device; anytime you spot errors, you'll have to go back to the PC, update the tags, and rebuild the database.

In the end, I decided it was much more efficient, and much more forgiving of weird tags on downloaded MP3s, if I just managed the organization of the thing myself, using old fashioned files and folders.

P.S. And if that post doesn't earn a +1 Informative, I don't know what does!

My problem with the iRiver is that you can't browse the contents by the ID3 tag content - only filenames.

To explain to everybody else: The iRiver comes with software that scans the portable's drive and builds a database from your ID3 tags. You can then flip an option in the iRiver's menus and it will let you browse by the contents of this database, rather than by filenames.

There are a couple of problems with this, though. First, the software is Windows-only. Second, it only supports MP3s, even though the device itself understands OGG comments. Third, it's buggy. Apparently there are unnatural limits on the length of the filenames and the paths to the filenames.

Then I discovered that there are, in fact, a couple of projects either ready or in the works to build iRiver database software for other platforms:

• iRipDB is the oldest. It's written in C, and compiles on Linux. The easiest way to get it to compile on BSD or Mac OS X is to track down JFTW, which implements the missing routines needed to walk a filesystem. You'll also need the appropriate third-party libraries for OGG and ID3 support (unlike the supplied software, it handles both). It doesn't seem to have the filename/path limitations of the supplied software. It's command-line only and a little clunky, but thankfully the author has also supplied documentation for the database file format, so you can use this as a basis to write our own software in some other language, if you choose.
• This guy seems to have taken that spec and written something in Python, which requires the appropriate ID3 and OGG libraries for Python. I don't do much mucking around with Python myself, so having got the C version working I didn't bother with this one, though it might be superior.
• ihptool is another utility, written -- mysteriously enough -- in C#. Haven't looked at this one much.
• iFish wants to do it in Java, which sounds like a good, cross-platform idea, and he claims things like fast database updates that only write the changes; but so far hasn't released anything.

I'm told the iRiver can do searches on the whole database, which might be handy. But I quickly realized that the main reason it would be handy was because ID3 tags are often corrupted. If you have albums by "Police" and "The Police," they'll show up in two totally different areas of the ID3 navigation. Not so if you manually threw them both into the same directory in the filesystem. There's no way to manually modify ID3 tags with the device; anytime you spot errors, you'll have to go back to the PC, update the tags, and rebuild the database.

In the end, I decided it was much more efficient, and much more forgiving of weird tags on downloaded MP3s, if I just managed the organization of the thing myself, using old fashioned files and folders.

P.S. And if that post doesn't earn a +1 Informative, I don't know what does!

You can try iripdb

I believe you can use the iRiver iHP-120 with Macs if you connect it as a standard USB hard drive.

But if you do this you can only access the files by navigating through a file tree. To use the full database structure you need to generate the database, which the iRiver Windows software does.

But there is a Linux program to generate the database: iRipDB.

Maybe it could be ported to Mac OS X? (it's already been ported to Windows).

Hear Hear. I wish they would call it 'vorbis' support though, since Ogg is just a file format. Xiph are in a bit of a mess with the use of their branding. I wonder if it would be possible to add Speex support too.

I too have several gigs of Ogg Vorbis files. I use Linux and Rhythmbox to play them. Now I have an iRiver player on order from Amazon (UKP250, what a price).

All I want now is rhythmbox/iRiver integration - building on iripdb perhaps.

I bought an iRiver iHP-120 for my wife. We both hated the joystick, so we returned it and got an iPod (with free shipping, free personalization, and a $25 coupon). I really wanted to like the iRiver, because of the features and battery life. Besides the joystick, I was disappointed that the DB feature didn't support Ogg out of the box, effectively making it a second-class format. (Check out iRipDB for a free third-party solution.)

If you're considering the iRiver, I encourage you spend some time with a display model. If you like the user interface, it's a terrific device. Otherwise, I don't see anything better than the iPod.

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