next topic »

[on:]

so, here's a very vague idea for a project for general discussion:

these days everyone uses USB thumb drives.  i keep a modest mp3 collection on my 8gb stick.  wouldn't it be great to have a portable mp3 player that i could stick my USB drive into and play my mp3s wherever?  iPods are just too expensive for me.  and i like the convenience of not using usb cables.  i know there are usb stick-style mp3 players, but even they aren't worth the cost in my opinion - and when it comes to upgrading, you pay for their mp3 functionality all over again.  my 8GB usb drive cost me just $25 on ebay.

anyway, it seems to me that no-one makes such a device.  am i the only one who would like to see one?

does anyone think arduino would be up to the task?

it would mean getting arduino to communicate simultaneously with:
- a USB drive,
- an mp3 decoder chip, and
- a display of some sort so the user could navigate the file structure.
and possibly other components that i haven't thought of yet.

has anyone got suggestions for how to tackle this?  think it isn't possible? know any gadgets that do this already?

[Reply #1 on:]

maybe... this?
http://www.vinculum.com/prd_vmusic1.html

[Reply #2 on:]

whoa.  thanks so much daniel.  i've been scouring the net looking for something like that for ages, not knowing what it was called...

it's still a bit pricey, but i guess compared to the cost of buying all the components and then going through the process of getting them all communicating.....

does anyone know any suppliers who still have the Vmusic1 in stock?

[Reply #3 on:]

si


http://apple.clickandbuild.com/cnb/shop/ftdichip

and it's only 20 Euros or something...

[Reply #4 on:]

hey Jon

someone has done it, see this thread

http://techartblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/vmusic2-on-arduino.html

D

[Reply #5 on:]

looks great!

imagine if vinculum added mpeg decoding as well. you could build an iPod...

[Reply #6 on:]

i meant jpeg.  video.  too many darn pegs these days....

[Reply #7 on:]

hi,

I was searching for " arduino + mp3 player " and found thoses posts. Look greats but a bit expansive for me if you need to do a lot of endependant modules. I am working on an installation that need that kind of thing.
Would it be more easy to buy a £9 mp3 player and connect the arduino to the player's buttons ? Might be a bit laggy but do you think it could do the job ?

It would be so nice to have the tinker.it interactive Mp3 ( http://www.tinker.it/en/Products/InteractiveMP3 ) but I think it's not distributed yet.

ps: excuse my english, I'm french.

[Reply #8 on:]

yes it is easy to connect to an Ipod remote to have "next track, previous track" control. Two of my students wrote a tutorial on how to do it. Check the Arduino Playground under tutorials.

D