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Patrick Stigler
ScrobbleDock App-Icon

ScrobbleDock

In development

Rockbox sync and live ratings for ListenBrainz

Coming to the Mac App Store

ScrobbleDock is a macOS menu bar app that uploads the listening history recorded by portable music players running Rockbox firmware to ListenBrainz. As soon as the player is connected, the app reads its .scrobbler.log file, identifies the model and Rockbox version, and submits only the tracks that have not been sent yet. It also shows the currently playing track as a small card with Love and Hate buttons.

Developer
Patrick Stigler
Requirements
macOS 14.0 or later
Price
€9.99 incl. VAT, one-time purchase
Languages
English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese
Tracking
None

The problem it solves

Rockbox logs every track you play to a file on the player — on the move, with no connection in sight. Getting that file into ListenBrainz used to mean finding it, checking the format, running a script or a web form, and hoping nothing was submitted twice. ScrobbleDock takes over that route.

How a transfer works

  1. Plug the player in. ScrobbleDock recognises it and reports how many new tracks are waiting on the device.
  2. Confirm the transfer — or set a device to upload straight away without asking.
  3. The result reports transferred, already-known and skipped tracks. Optionally the log is archived and the player ejected afterwards.

If you want to know which files the app reads and how it avoids duplicates, the support page has the details.

ScrobbleDock versus uploading by hand

ScrobbleDockUploading the log manually
Finding the deviceautomatic on connectsearch the volume yourself
Avoiding duplicateswatermark per devicecheck by hand
Implausible timestampsreported and skippedrejected, often silently
Cleaning up the logkeep, archive or deleteby hand
Ratingsstraight from the menu baronly on the website

Requirements

macOS 14 or later, a free ListenBrainz account with a user token and — for the sync — a player running Rockbox firmware. The rating card only needs some source that already reports your current track to ListenBrainz.

Features

Plug in and done

When a removable volume appears, ScrobbleDock looks for .scrobbler.log, .scrobbler-timeless.log and scrobbler.log — both in the root directory and under .rockbox/.

Never sent twice

The app keeps a watermark per device and advances it after every successful batch. Cancelling mid-import costs at most the current batch.

Your log, your rules

Configurable per device: leave the log in place, back it up to the archive folder and remove it from the player, or delete it.

Rating from the menu bar

Love and Hate send score 1 and -1 to ListenBrainz. Clicking an active button again removes the rating, exactly like the web UI does.

Three moments for the card

At the start of a track, shortly before it ends (80 percent of the running time by default), or after it finished. Missed tracks can be rated later from the history window.

Built for offline

Ratings made without a connection go into a persistent queue and are sent as soon as the network is back.

Eject after sync

Optionally ScrobbleDock ejects the player once the transfer is done — with a 15 second countdown to cancel, configurable globally or per device.

Fully accessible

Complete VoiceOver support and keyboard control. With VoiceOver running, the popup becomes the key window so Tab and Escape work as expected.

Screenshots

Device connected popup showing a detected iPod Video on Rockbox 3.15 and asking whether to send 137 new listensDevice connected popup showing a detected iPod Video on Rockbox 3.15 and asking whether to send 137 new listens
Plug the player in — ScrobbleDock identifies model, firmware and how many tracks are waiting.
Import result popup reporting 137 transferred listens plus already transferred and skipped tracksImport result popup reporting 137 transferred listens plus already transferred and skipped tracks
After the import: what went through, what was already there, what was skipped.
Window titled Transferred from IPOD listing the tracks that were just uploaded, each with rating buttonsWindow titled Transferred from IPOD listing the tracks that were just uploaded, each with rating buttons
Rate the tracks that went up, straight after a sync.
Import result popup showing “Ejecting in 12” alongside a Don’t Eject buttonImport result popup showing “Ejecting in 12” alongside a Don’t Eject button
Eject after a sync — with a countdown you can cancel.
Device settings with options for the log file, the rating window, ejecting and the countdownDevice settings with options for the log file, the rating window, ejecting and the countdown
Configurable per player, right down to ejecting.
Card for the currently playing track with cover art, artist, album and Love and Hate buttonsCard for the currently playing track with cover art, artist, album and Love and Hate buttons
Bonus: rate the track that is playing without leaving your work.
Recent listens window with rating buttons on every rowRecent listens window with rating buttons on every row
Rate the cards you missed from the recent listens window.

ScrobbleDock is an independent, unofficial client. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the MetaBrainz Foundation, which runs ListenBrainz. Rockbox is a project of the Rockbox community.