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Hardware Hacking Handhelds Media Music Hardware

Build Your Own MP3 Player 427

Posted by michael from the minty-fresh dept.
rdnk writes "Here's something for the DIY people, a home made mp3 player built into a mint case. Total (minimum) cost for parts: ~50$. At least it's something different."
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Build Your Own MP3 Player More

Build Your Own MP3 Player

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  • And people say... (Score:3, Funny)

    by AEton ( 654737 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @09:39PM (#11376441)
    the Media Lab is obsolete!

    Talk about daring technology. :p

  • Wake me up (Score:5, Funny)

    by AtariAmarok ( 451306 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @09:40PM (#11376450)
    Wake me up when you have the iPod built in a cigarette carton for $90 in parts.

  • Alternatives (Score:5, Informative)

    by RobertTaylor ( 444958 ) <roberttaylor1234 AT gmail DOT com> on Saturday January 15, 2005 @09:41PM (#11376453) Homepage Journal
    $50? Might as well get one of these [apple.com] for $99 :)

    And you can take it back if it breaks.

    • Re:Alternatives (Score:5, Insightful)

      by spac3manspiff ( 839454 ) <spac3manspiff@gmail.com> on Saturday January 15, 2005 @09:43PM (#11376476) Journal
      I guess you missed the point of the article...

      The point was that YOU built it and it's something to showoff to your friends.

    • Re:Alternatives (Score:5, Funny)

      by OneDeeTenTee ( 780300 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @09:46PM (#11376497)
      But that doesn't come with free mints.
      • He has a point. You can also replace in batteries in the one you built. Assuming you put some time in, you're also not tied to particular formats.

        • Re:Alternatives (Score:2, Informative)

          by Mononoke ( 88668 )
          Assuming you put some time in, you're also not tied to particular formats.
          Yes, because some days MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Music Store, M4A, M4B, M4P), Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4) and WAV ain't enough.
          • My point still stands.
          • You sure went thru a lot of work to make 4 formats sound like a lot, which it isnt.

            Especially when people will only ever use two of them.

            Note: Not bashing the iPod, I just bought one 3 days ago. It all came down to the wheel. No other player has a way to scroll thru your list wihtout lifting your finger. It should be a requirement damnit. Even something like the volume control car cd decks use would be perfect. Not sure what other companies are thinking there. Look at the iRiver..superior in almost every

          • Re:Alternatives (Score:3, Insightful)

            by Monkelectric ( 546685 )
            Nope it isn't. I want full Ogg Vorbis support. I don't want to hear excuses about how it requires too much processor power, how its a niche format, DPSs won't do it, whatever. iRiver supports it, rio supports it, their products are cost competitve with apples products, end of story.

            Until then Im happy with my iRiver h340 :)

            • Ogg on iPod (Score:5, Interesting)

              by cgenman ( 325138 ) on Sunday January 16, 2005 @12:42AM (#11377206) Homepage
              From Gizmodo [gizmodo.com], and a rebuttal [hydrogenaudio.org]. There is also a way to do it [ipodlinux.org], albeit with a hack.

              Engineer Dastardly Slaphapple took a break from his day job as a hardware and firmware designer at Bumbrubbley Audio Studebakery (maker of the iPod competitor Slompet player, among other things) to give us some more info on the OGG-on-iPod plausibility, including why the iPod mini (and future iPods) might have a better shot at getting OGG support than the older, whiter iPods. There's even information about why Apple may have chosen to implement their 'Lossless AAC' instead of the more widely adopted FLAC lossless format.

              Dastardly's analysis after the jump:

              Firstly, CPUs:

              The current iPod gen3 has a PP5002D CPU, the same as the gen1 and gen2. The gen1/2 stored their code from flash, not SDRAM, meaning they had a more limited codesize, and their SDRAM took more power to operate.

              The iPod mini has a PP5020 CPU

              The Rio Karma (developed in Cambridge UK) uses a PP5003 CPU. It plays OGG (and FLAC and MP3 and WMA).

              The old 5002:

              The 5002 has a "broken" cache (1 wait state per access for program or data, meaning you effectively have half the effective clock rate when running code from external memory). This means that running code that doesn't fit in the internal 96kbyte SRAM of the player is very inefficient, both in terms of CPU cycles and power. MP3 and AAC just about squeeze into the internal memory (one at a time, obviously!), but anything that didn't would result in a big power hit - my guess is 30-40%+. This would be a bad user experience, considering the already short gen3 battery life.

              The newer 5003:

              The 5003 in the Karma has this particular silicon deficiency fixed. The Karma plays OGG, though it's still a resource hog - you get about 25% less battery life - about 11-12 hours compared to 15+ for MP3 due to the extra cycles and memory requirements when compared to the more svelte codecs. We didn't do a lot of optimisation, so it's running the Vorbis-supplied tremor decoder with only a few tweaks.

              The even newer 5020:

              The 5020 is based on the 5003, and so has the cache bug fixed. It's capable of playing OGG with 25% or less hit on power (depending how much optimisation is done). I would suspect the 5020 will find its way into the next iPod, as it's cheaper and integrates both the firewire MAC and the USB2 mac/phy blocks which are separate chips on the gen3.

              So in summary:

              gen3 - In theory possible, but unlikely. mini - Very possible. gen4 (or my guess at what a gen4 would have in it) - Very possible.

              Dastardly Slaphapple is not speaking for his employer Bumbrubbley Audio Studebakery or Slompet Heavy Industries or anybody else. He's just sharing.

    • Re:Alternatives (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Wraithlyn ( 133796 )
      Or a Frontier Labs NEX ia+ (don't have time to find link sorry)

      It's an MP3 player that costs about $89, BYOCF. (Bring Your Own Compact Flash/microdrive), and runs off a pair of AAs. Also records microphone, radio direct to MP3.
      • The link, oddly enough, is www.frontierlabs.com [frontierlabs.com]. I have the previous model, the NEX IIe, and have loved it. No matter how many times I have dropped it at the gym or jogging it still works. The NEX ia is now just $69, BYOCF. I have to also say, running for a week off one set of AA batts is nice. I keep a few sets of rechargables in my gym bag and never have to remember to plug in the actual player. If I'm not at home to recharge, there are still AA batts for sell somewhere. Their 20gig player is nice
    • you'd have to buy itrip as well.

      "Exxxtras - Unlike some other mp3 players, this one comes with a 3.3v boost regulator (for running off of 1 or 2 alkaline or rechargable batteries) and an FM transmitter, for when you're on that road trip to Canada and you forgot your #@&*ing tape-adapter dongle thingy. Also, a really cool volume control button."

      besides, it's a diy project.. (mirrordot.com has the front page)
    • The day MIT discourages projects like this because you can buy something similar off an Asian assembly line is the day we're truly screwed.

    • Bullshit ... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by taniwha ( 70410 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @11:01PM (#11376815) Homepage Journal
      I just spent 2 hours this morning with my daughter teaching her how to solder and watching her build her first electronics kit - she's been bursting with pride at her accomplishment all day and can't wait to build another. It's the same reason my son and I built him a PC for xmas (he got a stocking full of boards, cpu, case, memory, etc),

      You build stuff for yourself to learn and because it's satisfying to make stuff ... the same reason other people work in wood or in wool or whatever ... I think we forget this sort of stuff in our modern mass produced world.

      And to your point - if it breaks you don't have to take it back ... you can fix it yourself.

      Seeing Ada's article today was particularly usefull because I could show it to my daughter - her response was 'cool can I make one?', (she already has an MP3 player ... so it is the making not the having that's important here), being able to say I could say I vaguely knew Ada (from the long ago xenu-wars) was great too ... now my daughter want to go to MIT :-)

      • Re:Bullshit ... (Score:3, Insightful)

        by leighklotz ( 192300 )
        You should get your daughter to get a ham license...

      • Re:Bullshit ... (Score:3, Interesting)

        by nurb432 ( 527695 )
        While i agree totally about the building experience, please.. building a 'pc' from 'modern parts' isnt an achievement of any kind..

        Get him to build a computer from scratch.. buy him breadboard, a box of chips.. And a data book... Then turn him loose...

        And no I'm not joking or being cute.. Get him enough stuff to build a simple z80 based machine. ( or 6500, whatever ). and you would be amazed at the things he would learn.

        Then he can feel proud he really did accomplish something, other then learn how to us

    • Or, if you'd rather have an MP3 player in a cookie/biscuit tin, try one of these [apple.com], although they're a bit expensive at USD 499 (but you can also use it as a general-purpose computer if you want).

  • It's got potential (Score:5, Interesting)

    by digitalgimpus ( 468277 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @09:44PM (#11376479) Homepage
    I've got a feeling, give it about 2-3 years, and mp3 players will be pretty cheap. This just proves that it could be done (limited) in a somewhat low cost method.

    What I really wish would happen is someone would turn my cell phone, pda, and iPod into 1 good product that doesn't require me to take out a loan.

    I know it's a dream. But how many more pockets do I have? I have my cell phone on my belt, pda in one, wallet, ipod... come on!

    I'd be a bit more impressed if this person managed to squeeze an mp3 player into the battery of his phone (granted a bit bulkier), or PDA. That way it's possible to carry less, and have more.

    I'm walking around like I have a "geek boner" in my pockets. With all those things in there.
    • Does that mean there will be a quality ipod someday, like one that you can replace batteries in?
      • There are at least 565 [dealtime.com] different digital media players out there, why is it people only know about the iPod? I'm sure dozens of those have replaceable batteries (most of the flash ones use AA/AAA), and hundreds are 'good'.

        • Re:It's got potential (Score:4, Insightful)

          by CaptainCheese ( 724779 ) on Sunday January 16, 2005 @02:44AM (#11377539) Journal
          There are at least 565 different digital media players out there, why is it people only know about the iPod?

          The answer? Because there are at least 565 different digital media players out there. The market is saturated. If you don't make a stonkingly great product and advertise the crap out of it no one will even be aware youur product. Advertising and word of mouth recommendation = brand visibility. It also helps that Steve Jobs repeatedly beats the Apple engineers with his big Stylish-And-User-Friendly-Hammer 'til they do what he wants.

          According to the figures Jobs was touting at MacWorld, they've got ~70% of the market share, the other HD based players have ~6%, and the remaining 24% is little flash-based players. If they play the iPod shuffle right, Apple could completely crush the competition, making themselves the kings of the market and people won't own a digital audio player - they'll own an iPod or an iPod clone.

          I'm sure dozens of those have replaceable batteries (most of the flash ones use AA/AAA), and hundreds are 'good'.

          Replacable batteries are a mixed selling point - I, like many others, do not want to feed the battery-eating gods. The down side is, of course, that you have a limited life away from a power supply. Both are substantial drawbacks.

          Also, 'good' doesn't cut it. 'great' is what gets your customers recommending the product to friends. Apple simply did it better (in some ways, mainly style, size and usability) than everyone else, and the market has rewarded them accordingly.

          Disclaimer: I own a 3G iPod (my first and only Apple product) and am very very happy with my purchase...
      • So have you had to replace the batteries on your iPod, or did you just read on /. that somebody somewhere had to do it?

    • My Nokia 7610 works really well as a phone and a PDA. It can also play movies and music, but the sound output is limited to mono 22.5kHz so the music playing functionality is of limited to use (I keep a copy of my band's album on there to show people if they ask).

      The Nokia 7710 is a bit larger (same height and width as a SE P900) and is the same thickness as my 7610 (half as thick as a P900). That gives you a touch screen, great battery life, and a 640x240 screen. It uses regular MMC card (IIRC) so you ca

    • What I really wish would happen is someone would turn my cell phone, pda, and iPod into 1 good product that doesn't require me to take out a loan.

      The answers are out [motorola.com] there [motorola.com]. Your cell phone service provider doesn't want you to have them easily because it's potentially cutting into their add-on services revenues. You can get the E680 for about $300-$400 (if you look) without your typical U.S. 2-year service contract bullshit.

    • If it's that horrible, just buy a big microdrive for your pda and get it to do a bunch of stuff by running different programs, really; there's a difference between being a geek and being just a tech consumer, and that difference is ingenuity.

    • Re:It's got potential (Score:3, Interesting)

      by fm6 ( 162816 )

      But how many more pockets do I have? I have my cell phone on my belt, pda in one, wallet, ipod... come on!

      They keep trying to do the all-in-one thing, but there are some fundamental conflicts. Multitasking phone management, PDA-centric tasks, and your MP3 playlist all one one little screen is a pain. Not to mention battery issues -- if you run down the battery on your MP3 player, you're just stuck without tunes for a while. But if that also runs down your cell phone and PDA...

      Everybody's ideal solution

  • Might be a danger of confusing it with the empty pack of mints in your pocket and tossing out the wrong one.

  • 10 comments (Score:3, Informative)

    by sometwo ( 53041 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @09:44PM (#11376485)
    and already slashdotted- must be a new record.

    Here's a link where you can by mp3 player circuit boards: http://www.pjrc.com/tech/mp3/ [pjrc.com]

    • Are you serious? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by JQuick ( 411434 )
      From that link you can buy a kit, containing a bare circuit board and components to solder onto it.

      The cost of the kit is $150 + shipping.
      On the order page it says:

      This MP3 player circuit board contain all the components require to build the new MP3 Player design. After the board is assembled, a hard disk drive, standard 72-pin SIMM memory, and power source are needed to make a complete player.

      So after adding a hard drive, cobbling together a useful power supply, and building a case for it, you are al

  • You would have thought ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by ProfMoriarty ( 518631 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @09:45PM (#11376489) Journal
    that MIT could withstand a good slashdotting ...

    Evidently not

  • Mirror (Score:5, Informative)

    by ikkibr ( 848955 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @09:45PM (#11376490) Homepage
    Well, first page is mirrored http://www.mirrordot.org/stories/342d79c8dead68d75 bbc15920a7987cc/index.html [mirrordot.org]

  • Yeah, but they ain't MacGuyver (Score:5, Funny)

    by AtariAmarok ( 451306 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @09:46PM (#11376499)
    $50 in parts to built an mp3 player into a 'toids-tin? Sounds impressive until you realize that McGuyver can do the same thing using nothing more than belly button lint, a broken LCD watch, and a hairpin. All fitting inside a matchbook, no less.
    • McGuyver can do the same thing using nothing more than belly button lint, a broken LCD watch, and a hairpin. All fitting inside a matchbook, no less.

      You're out of date. Nowadays, he would need a little naquadah to finish the job.

      Of course, it would only be useful for jammin' to the latest Goa'uld pop hits.
  • How much more money do we need to throw out there to get a nice shuffling feature?

  • B.A. Baracus says... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jack Action ( 761544 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @09:49PM (#11376525)
    I ain't gettin' on no planes.

    Try to take an "mp3 player in a mint case" through security, and you'll be taking the greyhound bus for the rest of your life.

  • Google cache (Score:5, Informative)

    by christopherfinke ( 608750 ) <chris@efinke.com> on Saturday January 15, 2005 @09:51PM (#11376531) Homepage Journal
    Here's the Google cache of the main pages of the site:

    Overview [64.233.167.104]
    Hardware [64.233.167.104]
    Firmware [64.233.167.104]
    Software [64.233.167.104]
    Fabrication [64.233.167.104]
    Downloads [64.233.167.104]

    [Apparently, this comment has too few characters per line. What can I possible type to add some characters?]

  • Please dig the folowing (Score:4, Interesting)

    by gamekeeper ( 793336 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @09:54PM (#11376544) Journal
    This article was assertained from
    www.hackaday.com

    pretty cool stuff.. Especially the Coke machine Hack..

    Have fun,, /.'ers

  • do-it-yourself vs. consumer electronics (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Antonymous Flower ( 848759 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @09:56PM (#11376558) Homepage
    I hope their mp3 player isn't as fragile as their web server :D

    I'm not sure how in-depth this article is but the joy of do-it-yourself is understanding the technology most take for granted. If everyone understood the ideas behind that TV set they love to glaze their eyes over too, we might not be so bad off. As I stated in a previous comment if people understood the ideas behind the internet they wouldn't get infected with spyware and they wouldn't give up on the internet. Don't be so quick to spend your money on something when there is an opportunity to learn for free.

  • I'd rather see a Vorbis player (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Trogre ( 513942 ) * on Saturday January 15, 2005 @09:57PM (#11376559) Homepage
    That's great and all that it can play mp3 files, but for those of us that want more freedon and quality a Vorbis player would be much nicer.

    I realise that this is just another "Look what I can cram into a small case!" story which has an intrinsic nerdy cool factor, but honestly mp3 players this size are a dime a dozen.

    • The problem most likely is that hardware Vorbis decoders are not as cheap because they are not as popular. I agree with your point, but the only route I see to get around this is to build a software decoder which could get messy in this small of a device.

  • Slashdot needs (Score:5, Insightful)

    by zymano ( 581466 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @10:08PM (#11376609)
    We need to start Bittorrenting these web pages !

    Can someone PLEASE tell Slash to do this.

    Very annoying these websites getting obliterated by the masses.

    How hard would it be to torrent these sites ?

  • Lots of DIY MP3 players (Score:5, Informative)

    by wrmrxxx ( 696969 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @10:10PM (#11376620)

    There are quite a few do it yourself MP3 players around. A particularly nice series of players can be found at the YAMPP (Yet Another MP3 Player) site [myplace.nu]. The site includes both hard drive and flash based players, and even a colour screen version. They have a web shop that sells PC boards, kits, and components.

    There is also list of mp3 projects at http://ee.cleversoul.com/mp3_projects.html [cleversoul.com]

    • One of these days I'm planning on building an MP3 player into an old transistor radio (1969) I bought at a surplus store a couple of years ago.

      Low bitrate MP3s through a crappy built-in speaker will be wonderful in ways you can't describe.
  • I have a Pentax Optio S4i camera - not an incredible camera by any stretch, but it fits in one of these tins. Talk about a durable, cheap camera case. They're a little big for an MP3 player though...

  • eBay (Score:3, Funny)

    by webteeth ( 760047 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @10:14PM (#11376633)
    Those would go for a lot on eBay - they're all in mint condition.

  • Well I like it. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by blackest_k ( 761565 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @10:23PM (#11376664) Homepage Journal
    This design has a couple of really nice points in its favour.
    The built in fm transmitter which means its a doddle to tune in your car radio to listen to your mp3's or your passengers MP3's

    2ndly because its designed to work with Cf cards it is ata compatable which means you could run a hard drive instead which would allow you to go direct from pc to player with a drive in one of those quick release players.

    thirdly Its diy aspect means you could easily remotely wire the controls where you want them.

    Ever tried hooking an mp3 cd player to a car never a good place to stick it and even if you get it in the cubby hole the controls are inaccessable.

    the memory stick players are better due to size but you are kinda limited in storage space unless you pay a lot for a decent capacity.

    I guess my ideal player would read from dvd with a fm wireless connector and a remote keypad.
    4.3 gig will cover the first couple of days driving.

    actually when it comes to it this project could be adapted to do this.
    dvd drive is fairly cheap. the psu would be a little more complicated to do and it wouldnt be out of this world to be able to fit the electronics inside the dvd drive case. Add a couple of buttons to the front of the drive or a small remote keypad and you could have a superb in dash dvd mp3 player.

    think this article might be worth looking at a little closer.

  • ...appears to be hosted by a web-server-in-a-mint-tin.
  • I want one just to see the look on people's faces when I pull the tin of mints out of my pocket and see my headphones plugged into it. That would definitely generate a few stares.

  • mostly full mirror (Score:2, Informative)

    by lart2150 ( 724284 )
    I allmost have the full page including pictures http://students.depaul.edu/~bengert/minty/index.ht ml [depaul.edu]

  • And then you can post on slashdot... (Score:3, Funny)

    by MuckSavage ( 658302 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @11:19PM (#11376894)
    ...about how it is the next "iPod Killer".

  • Has to be said... (Score:5, Funny)

    by michaeldot ( 751590 ) on Saturday January 15, 2005 @11:22PM (#11376902)
    [2] Don't eat minty MP3 thingy.
  • someone can build these things and make a profit off selling them.

    I'd RTFA but the site has been Slashdotted already. :(

  • My Lazy Bastards(TM) iPod case mod... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kris_J ( 10111 ) * on Sunday January 16, 2005 @07:59AM (#11378201) Homepage Journal
    I really was going to be all handy with the neoprene cutting until I found out that my existing Marware case was perfect for stuffing my iPod in a newly gutted Sony Sports Walkman [flickr.com]. Can I have a Slashdot story please? PLEASE?

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