iPOD shuffle

[joep]

Interesting embedded design, most here probably could design the
electronics in a few weeks, the packaging ,however, thats where it seem
99% of the design headaches are in a commerical product like this.

http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/

here is one torn apart

http://www.applematters.com/shufflepopup0.htm

Just curious, does anyone here have the experience to make one of
these? How would you go about it?

[OccamMan]

There's usually a fair number of headaches in the electronics too,
particularly if you have want to
- maintain low power
- keep noise inaudible in the analog section in a tiny circuit

Building something like this would probably follow the 80/20 rule: you'd
be "80%" of the way there in 20% of the time, while the final "20%"
would take 80% of the time -- there's always a lot of minutiae in
finalizing a consumer product that has to interface to the outside
world, things like making sure it fails gracefully when the user pulls
the USB port at any point in the transfer, and whatnot.

Otherwise, this would be a pretty straightforward exercise: build a set
of tight specifications, select major parts (microcontroller, memory,
battery, probably a codec), design a basic firmware architecture, start
building modules and testing...

[joep]

"There's usually a fair number of headaches in the electronics too,
particularly if you have want to
- maintain low power
- keep noise inaudible in the analog section in a tiny circuit"

I don't think so, its mostly a matter of selecting the best "system on
a chip" and flash memory that is currently available from the
semiconductor industry, Apple doesn't design that, so you get whatever
specs the chips give you, the shuffle uses the STMP3550 which has MP3
decoder, usb controller, DSP,playlist manager, headphone amplifier and
a variety of storage media support among other things.

"Otherwise, this would be a pretty straightforward exercise: build a
set
of tight specifications, select major parts (microcontroller, memory,
battery, probably a codec), design a basic firmware architecture, start

building modules and testing... "

I was referring to the mechanical design, not the electrical....

[Bryan Hackney]

joep wrote:
> "There's usually a fair number of headaches in the electronics too,
> particularly if you have want to
> - maintain low power
> - keep noise inaudible in the analog section in a tiny circuit"
>
> I don't think so, its mostly a matter of selecting the best "system on
> a chip" and flash memory that is currently available from the
> semiconductor industry, Apple doesn't design that, so you get whatever

If you believe that, you might have a promising career in the grocery
bagging industry.

> specs the chips give you, the shuffle uses the STMP3550 which has MP3
> decoder, usb controller, DSP,playlist manager, headphone amplifier and
> a variety of storage media support among other things.
>
>
> "Otherwise, this would be a pretty straightforward exercise: build a
> set
> of tight specifications, select major parts (microcontroller, memory,
> battery, probably a codec), design a basic firmware architecture, start
>
> building modules and testing... "
>
> I was referring to the mechanical design, not the electrical....
>

Get serious, and quit wasting people's time.

[joep]

You seem a little cranky, perhaps its past your nap time, maybe try
responding again tomorrow? Sleepy time

[Bryan Hackney]

joep wrote:
> Bryan Hackney wrote:
>
>>joep wrote:

(goofed up quotes intact)

I am a little cranky and sleepy. You're right. And I was not really
interested in the topic. I just like to inject a little sarcasm when
I see something really wacky and/or misinformed.