FLOSS-/hacker-friendly music-players?

[Joshua Judson Rosen]

I'm looking for a new music-player to replace my iPod Video,
which died over the weekend.

The reason I bought that iPod was that, at the time, iPods were not
yet particularly hostile toward projects like Rockbox or iPod Linux,
and the hardware was nice. It looks like that line of iPods was the
last one that was anything like open, and that Apple is now actively
hostile toward `homebrew computing', so... to heck with it:

I could buy a used, previous-generation iPod and load Rockbox onto it,
and run with it in the same configuration as I've had up until now,
but I'd rather put my money (and time) into supporting something
that's actually open or `friendly'. I'm even willing to pay extra
for that feature.

I'm looking for something that I can carry on my person and use
with a set of headphones, and that I can use in my car.
The car currently has an iPod dock, but I can replace that
with a 1/8" `aux in' jack.

My music-collection is predominantly Ogg Vorbis files,
and I'm not particulary interested in converting those to mp3.


So, that's the setup. My question to you all is: what are my options?

While it may be surprising given the recent thread about
how `nobody wants to write games for Linux but maybe those
Android Linux phones will convert some developers',
it turns out that most of the desirable-looking devices
that I've found so far are actually supposed to be
*gaming* systems, and many of them actually *ship*
with some sort of Linux OS. So maybe someone from the
Gaming SIG (however disbanded) offer some insight.

Ideally, I'm looking for something with no built-in microphone,
camera, or radios. My FreeRunner is not a candidate to replace
the iPod for this as well as several other reasons, though
I suppose *another* FreeRunner might be.


Candidate devices so far:

    * The Touchbook <http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/touchbook>
      caught my eye before the iPod died, but seems... a little big
      for foran iPod-replacement, and it also appears to have multiple
      inbuilt radios. All FLOSS.

    * The Pandora <http://www.openpandora.org> has been on my want-list,
      and would probably make a great iPod-replacement, but
      I'm still waiting for them to finish becoming real,
      and the thing has a microphone and several radios.
      All FLOSS, apprently.

    * Gizmoforyou.com sells Gumstix-based modular kits called "Flow"...
      for $800--ouch. Looks like it comes with a bunch of components
      that I don't actually want, but would also do what I do want.

    * GP2X Wiz: No radios. Has Microphone. Runs `Linux-based OS'.
      Not sure how much that actually means. Reflashable?
      Bootable from SD? FLOSS drivers? Userspace?
      Affordable--costs about what an iPod costs.

    * GP2X: No radios. No Microphone. No longer in production, but
      can apparently be found on eBay for ~cheap.
      Same concerns as the Wiz.

    * Dingoo A320: Cheap, and no undesired components.
      Not expressly FLOSS-friendly, but appears to be non-hostile.

    * Leapfrog Didj <http://elinux.org/Didj>: Like Dingoo?

    * Ares <http://ares.gizmoforyou.com/>: Still vapour. Needs funding.


Do you have any experience with any of the above systems?
Do you know of any other similar devices that I should investigate?

Are you a hardware hacker interested in building me a one-off,
and can you do it cost-effectively? :)

-- 
"Don't be afraid to ask (λf.((λx.xx) (λr.f(rr))))."