Rockbox
Hacker ApprovedMusic player firmware in Audio
Free open-source firmware for many MP3 players, offering drag-and-drop file management and FLAC support, without vendor gatekeeping.
Free open-source firmware for many MP3 players, offering drag-and-drop file management and FLAC support, without vendor gatekeeping.
30 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 29
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 97%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 29 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 29 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Runs on many MP3 players
“there's even an open source replacement firmware for most iPods (among other mp3 players), adding plenty of neat features”
Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Modern Walkmans” “I modded an iPod Mini 2nd gen for my daughter and put Rockbox on it”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Wired headphone sales are exploding. What's with the Bluetooth backlash?” “For software I was quite happy with Rockbox on my bigger Classic.”
Comment from 27 Sep 2026 in “16GB iPod Nano 3G Upgrade” - Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Tech Is Fun Again: The Tech Monoculture Is Finally Breaking”
- Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Tech Is Fun Again: The Tech Monoculture Is Finally Breaking”
- Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Tech Is Fun Again: The Tech Monoculture Is Finally Breaking”
- Comment from 24 Oct 2026 in “Apple Music 404 Not Found”
Files managed directly through filesystem
“If you load Rockbox onto it, it works like a standard MP3 player where all the organization is done at the filesystem level.”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “Why Sony Can't Bring Back Its Classic Walkman Models” “it was the push I needed to try Rockbox, and I haven't looked back. Managing things via the file system is really nice.”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: Lume 0.2 – Build and Run macOS VMs with unattended setup” “putting Rockbox on them and copying files over directly, and that's well supported in Linux”
Comment from 1 Oct 2026 in “Sudo – A dedicated music player designed around listening to music” - Comment from 16 Jan 2026 in “Spotify increases its US subscription prices for the third time in 3 years”
FLAC, Opus and gapless playback
“If you were to install third-party software such as Rockbox, well, then you'd have Opus support.”
Comment from 20 Jul 2026 in “The Last MPEG-4 Visual Patent Has Expired” “Rockbox gave it the two main features I really wanted: flac support and gapless playback.”
Comment from 13 May 2026 in “Show HN: A modern Music Player Daemon based on Rockbox firmware” “Got a lot of use out of the FLAC support.”
Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Tech Is Fun Again: The Tech Monoculture Is Finally Breaking” Clear upgrade over stock firmware
“replacing the firmware with rockbox, which significantly improves on those areas”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “Why Sony Can't Bring Back Its Classic Walkman Models” “It made mine instantly better.”
Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Tech Is Fun Again: The Tech Monoculture Is Finally Breaking” “yes - that was an upgrade”
Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Tech Is Fun Again: The Tech Monoculture Is Finally Breaking”
What people said
27 of the 30 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Can handle podcasts or years of music no problem. No internet on the go needed.”
“plenty of devices that can run rockbox”
“I have struggled trying to use it with Linux”
“putting Rockbox on them and copying files over directly, and that's well supported in Linux”
“It supports RockBox (and, somewhat uniquely, Bluetooth with RockBox)”
“For software I was quite happy with Rockbox on my bigger Classic.”
“running an opensource (rockbox?) firmware to get around some of those issues”
“If you load Rockbox onto it, it works like a standard MP3 player where all the organization is done at the filesystem level.”
“replacing the firmware with rockbox, which significantly improves on those areas”
“If you were to install third-party software such as Rockbox, well, then you'd have Opus support.”
“I use my 34XX clamshell to listen to podcasts and audiobooks in rockbox”
“Rockbox gave it the two main features I really wanted: flac support and gapless playback.”
“I love Rockbox myself too”
“The forcing function of limited hardware is one of the things that made Rockbox great”
“The interface and performance are just so well thought out and refined.”
“The project was great to work with, Daniel Stenberg (also the curl maintainer) was really good at helping newcomers like me participate.”
“I modded an iPod Mini 2nd gen for my daughter and put Rockbox on it”
“rockbox is available for most of the range”
“yes - that was an upgrade”
“I have a Fiio M3K with Rockbox, it's great.”
“It made mine instantly better.”
“Got a lot of use out of the FLAC support.”
“Have you looked at Rockbox?”
“I'd start by looking at the Rockbox compatible devices list”
“it was the push I needed to try Rockbox, and I haven't looked back. Managing things via the file system is really nice.”
“it is basically drag and drop without Apple's gatekeeping”
“there's even an open source replacement firmware for most iPods (among other mp3 players), adding plenty of neat features”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.