mp3 player hack

[Tim Aslat]

Hi Guys,

I've been asked if I can cobble together an MP3 player with a slight
twist. I need it to play a random track at the push of a button, then
stop. Essentially the same principle as the old pull string mechanical
toys with the short message.

The project also needs to be fairly small as it needs to fit into a
prop for AVcon in 2 weeks.

Does anyone know where would be a good start?

I'll keep looking at jaycar, aztronics, etc but I don't think a
dealextreme order would arrive in time.

Cheers

Tim

--
Tim Aslat
Spyderweb Consulting
E: t...@spyderweb.com.au
P: 0401 088 479

[Damien P]

If you've got no space restrictions, a Raspberry Pi is probably the easiest to get working, because it doesn't need any custom software.  Hack a keyboard, mouse or joystick for the button, or use a GPIO.

An old Ipod (readily available from Cash Converters) and Rockbox would be neat, but you'd probably need to modify the Rockbox code.

I'm sure someone has made an Arduino play audio from an SD card.

[Steven Pickles]

How small? Arduino + shield? then http://littlebirdelectronics.com/products/mp3-player-shield

You might need a small amp depending on what the output speaker is going to be. You could grab a little battery powered Ipod speaker gadget.

There are smaller MP3 decoder breakout boards that you could wire to a smaller arduino (a mini or a pro), but they mostly don't come with an SD card to store the MP3's, so you probably wont save space or money in the end. However, you could trawl though these options: http://littlebirdelectronics.com/search?q=mp3

pix

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[Steven Pickles]

Also, less fun, but an ipod shuffle. project finished.

pix

[Damien P]

On Sunday, July 8, 2012 4:25:03 PM UTC+9:30, pix wrote:

Also, less fun, but an ipod shuffle. project finished.

Of course! Could you get it to play one track, and then stop?

You could record your sounds with a long silence at the end (a few hours; I guess one of its formats will compress silence  well enough), and use the headphone controls to advance to the next track.

[Tim Aslat]

I have a bit of a space restriction, but I think I can fit my Pi in there comfortably.  I'm kicking myself for not having thought of it before.  I need to arrange some battery storage for at least 6 preferably 12 hours of continuous useage, although I may be able to conserve power by only looking to read the GPIO pins at any point in time.

I'll give this a shot and see how it works by the next HS meet, which I think is this Wednesday.

I'll also be interested ot hear some other ideas as well.

[Steven Pickles]

Also, I now have a spare android phone (my old nexus one) which could be coded to do this, in theory, wiring to the headset button as the one-button interface.

pix

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[Paul Schulz]

See also:
www.users.on.net/~blymn/bob/

[Tim Aslat]

On Sun, 8 Jul 2012 17:03:45 +0930, Steven Pickles wrote:

Also, I now have a spare android phone (my old nexus one) which could be coded to do this, in theory, wiring to the headset button as the one-button interface.

I'm thinking that an andoid phone would have been a nice way to handle the problem, but would probably require at least 1 custom app to deal with the way I want this prop to work.

I also need some LEDs controlled at the same time as the audio, preferably in sync, but not vital.

I think that the GPIO headers on the pi may provide the simplest solution, in the time I have available to make it happen.  Has anyone had much to do with using the GPIO ports on their Pi?

[Steven Pickles]

i think battery life will be a real problem with a rPI solution.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/forum/general-discussion/battery-power

numbers being thrown around suggest 10hrs for a model A from 4 AA's, so i'd guess less than half that for a model B (which you have as an earlier post suggests model A idles at 300mA and the model B at 700mA).

pix

--

[Sam Birbeck]

700mA is the minimum for the model B, yeah. I'm working on a project using a LiPo battery intended for RC helicopters/aircraft as a solution. HobbyKing is a good website to get this stuff but there is perhaps a store around town somewhere if you're worried about shipping time?

On Sunday, 8 July 2012 at 5:18 PM, Steven Pickles wrote:

> i think battery life will be a real problem with a rPI solution.
>
> http://www.raspberrypi.org/forum/general-discussion/battery-power
>
> numbers being thrown around suggest 10hrs for a model A from 4 AA's, so i'd guess less than half that for a model B (which you have as an earlier post suggests model A idles at 300mA and the model B at 700mA).
>
> pix
>

> On 8 July 2012 17:09, Tim Aslat <t...@spyderweb.com.au (mailto:t...@spyderweb.com.au)> wrote:
> > On Sun, 8 Jul 2012 17:03:45 +0930, Steven Pickles wrote:
> > > Also, I now have a spare android phone (my old nexus one) which could be coded to do this, in theory, wiring to the headset button as the one-button interface.
> >
> >
> >
> > I'm thinking that an andoid phone would have been a nice way to handle the problem, but would probably require at least 1 custom app to deal with the way I want this prop to work.
> > I also need some LEDs controlled at the same time as the audio, preferably in sync, but not vital.
> >
> > I think that the GPIO headers on the pi may provide the simplest solution, in the time I have available to make it happen. Has anyone had much to do with using the GPIO ports on their Pi?
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Tim
> >

> > -- Tim Aslat Spyderweb Consulting E: t...@spyderweb.com.au (mailto:t...@spyderweb.com.au) P: 0401 088 479

> >
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[Tamsyn Michael]

You could even use a cheapo mp3 player in the same way.  It doesn't have to be an expensive apple product (boo).  Set the mp3 player to random, and break out the 'next track button, and solder it to a cheap button on the outfit (inside the outfit?).  That's the randomised response linked to a button taken care of.

I presume you want other people to be able to press the button and hear a response, so rather than headphones use a cheap speaker like this:
http://www.cheapaschips.com.au/estore/style/ea2035.aspx
Or even the cardboard ones I've seen at cheap as chips (2 speakers), which will be even easier to hack apart.  If you want any kind of volume though, you can't have the speaker flush with the clothes, there will need to be a reasonable (1cm??) size gap of air behind the speaker back.

This leaves a LED that will light up when the speaker is playing (am I right? - this is what you want?) - difficult to include in this circuit... so don't.

I would use a piezo switch.  Not sure which would be best (small, large, with or without mass), but something that reacts to the sounds which are played, placed near the speaker (or in front of it even).
Here's something I think might work:
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9199
It would be easier to run it off a small coin battery (rather than the mp3 player) and you'd need to put at least one resistor in the circuit with the LED (/ LEDs) - maybe one when the player is playing, one when it's not, one which is activated by another button - do what you want.

Hope at least some of that is helpful.  Sounds like an interesting outfit anyway.  :)

[Tamsyn Michael]

PS - one playing, etc - refers to LEDs not buttons.

Another thought - you could have two switches behind the push button instead of only the mp3 player one.  The other one could activate a LED (or a series of LEDs).

[Tamsyn Michael]

PPS Got any pics of the costume?

[Steven Pickles]

Hypothetically, if an android fairy were to make this custom app...?

How many LEDs? Would using the actual OLED display suffice?

pix

--

[Tim Aslat]

On Sun, 8 Jul 2012 18:17:05 +0930, Tamsyn Michael wrote:

PPS Got any pics of the costume?

You mean the costume that goes with this prop?  It's not completed yet, barely even started at this stage, but fairly simple (appraently).  The costume is of Sophie in How's Moving Castle, and the prop is Calcifer.

The plan is to make it randomy quote lines from the movie and change the intensity of the LEDs, preferably in sync to the audio.

I think I'll be going with the Raspberry Pi idea as it's the quickest way I'll get it working before AVcon.

[Ryan Leach]

you can shave amps off the pi by replacing the linear regulator with a switch mode power supply, hackadays been covering several attempts.

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[pault]

Ive got a spare one of these:
"12V MP3 decoder board Dual-channel stereo 2*10W Amplifier+Remote"
that you can have.

it came from ebay
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12V-MP3-decoder-board-Dual-channel-stereo-2-10W-Amplifier-Remote-DC-power-cable-/180913641944?pt=US_Ham_Radio_Transmitters&hash=item2a1f4b19d8

dont know if it can play random tracks but it's small and should have
fairly low power consumption.

email me if you are interested. I live close to the city.
--paul

[Steven Pickles]

why is this in the ham radio transmitters category, is it for jamming? ;)

pix

> P: 0401 088 479

[pault]

Amateurs use them for voice beacons, fox hunt targets ,voice telemetry
etc.

the non ham version is here:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dc-12v-Amplifier-Board-MP3-decoder-board-Dual-channel-stereo-2-10W-Remote-/261031498265?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cc6b09219

--paul

On Jul 9, 9:44 pm, Steven Pickles <thatpix...@gmail.com> wrote:
> why is this in the ham radio transmitters category, is it for jamming? ;)
>
> pix
>
> On 9 July 2012 22:00, pault <pau...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Ive got a spare one of these:
> > "12V MP3 decoder board Dual-channel stereo 2*10W Amplifier+Remote"
> > that you can have.
>
> > it came from ebay
>

> >http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12V-MP3-decoder-board-Dual-channel-stereo-...