Slashdot Mirror
Inexpensive Do It Yourself MP3 Players
Paul pointed us to his
MP3 Player Project. Now I admit, we've seen a lot of them, but this one is basically kit oriented for the do-it-yourselfer. For as little as $140 you can get a box of parts. For a bit more, a fully assembled board. Basically, put it in a box, add RAM, IDE hard drive (up to 80 gigs!) and power it and you have your own MP3 server. Its flash rom upgradable (and based on a core that is GPLd) and just looks uber pimp. I'm really interested to see what folks do with these things. It is ready for cars or homes. All it needs is some creative juice.
- The CD-R is not re-recordable. MD is.
- You can't fit a CD-R in your pocket to tape shows. Ever seen a pocket-sized CD-R with a mic and a portable power supply? me niether. If you're going to bring a deck, you might as well bring DAT.
3) the minidisc format never really caught on here in the US. it will die in 5 yrs or less, I predict.You predict? Well, that's nice. Do you have any evidence, or are you just a seer?
wish
Vote for freedom!
---
I practically cut my teeth on Heathkits. I kind of miss the 'good old days' of electronics you could really build from scratch - not that I'd ever leave VLSI behind.
I have no MP3 collection, but this is almost reason to start one.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
of course there's cd-rw!
You can't fit a CD-R in your pocket to tape shows
but you can do that with dat. and you'll have a much better and more reliable tape via dat.
Do you have any evidence, or are you just a seer
well, I've been a very heavy dat user for about 10 yrs now. I have a pro audio (both analog and digital) setup at home and generally follow the industry trends. I've seen MD rise and decline. before the mp3 craze, I would say that MD had a chance. but now, its mostly over. moving parts are passe' - with the next gen of mp3 units (recordables that go to directly to ram) it will totally kill any slight chance that MD has.
and again, you can't copy MD at better than realtime (unless you have very fancy and specialized/costly equip). music is bulk data - and MD is just too slow.
--
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Um ... it seems as though you guys are overlooking a big issue: Minidiscs are DISCS and must be spinning to play. From our endless experience with portable CD players, we know that this can be a Bad Thing (TM) - skipping and scratching of the discs being the major two issues.
... and I can't wait until memory (ie. the Sony Memory stick-type technology) is cheap enough to fit 100s of songs on it. Of course, by that time we'll probably be getting custom mp3 streams via a wireless connection (ie. Bluetooth?) ... regardless ... :)
I believe that the fact that players like the Rio have no moving parts is a HUGE advantage over their mechanical counterparts.
I know I'm sick of discs
----- rL
I suspect viewpoints such as yours come from projecting one's own sorry life unto others when one knows nothing at all about them.
Harvey Keitel is Sport, the greatest white pimp in film history. He's Jodie Foster's pimp that De Niro kills.
-B
The main thing stopping me from playing MP3s is the low quality of the output of my soundcard. They sound ok at a low background level from my PC speakers, but when I hooked it up to the receiver and floor standing speakers of my main sound system, the noise and static is awful.
The only soundcard that I've really seen recommended is the Soundblaster Live with digital output. I have a couple of spare digital inputs, but the Soundblaster is over $100. If this device for $150 gives good audio quality and can be stuck in a box (next to the stereo) with a 72 pin SIMM from a 486 I don't use anymore and a spare hard drive and spare power supply it could be a better choice.
Price of MP3 Player: $140
Price of Selling Slashdot nickname: $102
Total Price: $38
"`Ford, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.'" -THHGTTG
Moderators, you know you are under my power completely. No matter how much you try to resist, you will be compelled to moderate this post down against your will. In fact, my control of your subconscious, and your subsequent lack of free will, is so complete that you believe that you want to moderate this down! Imagine your horror, if you were to be released from my control, and saw this brilliantly insightful comment that you moderated down! But do not fear, I have no plans to wake you from your trancelike state, for I relish power and dominance, even over weak willed fools. Now, I command you, my obedient slaves, loose your mod points on this post. I suggest the rating "Flamebait". On three ... One, Two,
I'll be documenting the entire thing on a web page as the project gets farther along. I have all the materials, and the custom software is 75% written. Should I try to create downloadable plans so anyone can reproduce this thing?
Cheers,
Thad
The Bolachek Journals
That's the only explanation I can think of for calling $140 + $50 + $250 "inexpensive".
--
Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
Anyone have *any* idea how to get a volume knob to tweak software?
You might have some luck hacking the guts of an old mouse (or better still, a game controller with some sort of potentiometer) to get something that you could bolt onto the backside of a knob. Eschewing a volume knob in favor of some buttons would be even easier.
You might find some other ideas at the build your own arcade controls FAQ which, like your proposed project, deals with the question of attaching non-standard input hardware to a PC.
Man, that is rude.
Come in here, telling us about cool technology WITH an acceptable price, and then not giving a link. That means that I have to pull up Google.
Don't let it happen again.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
I would like an mp3 player in the size, shape and style of home audio components. Just stack it in there with your stereo. The emphasis would be on sound quality, so rather than (or in addition to) providing DAC conversion, I would just want an optical digital out cable to stick in the dolby digital receiver. It would, of course, be upgradeable to play new formats, like ogg vorbis. It would have an ethernet card and a high capacity hard drive, smb and/or nfs server so you can just move files on and off with any computer on your home network, and an lcd panel showing artist/title/playing time. Also, a web server could provide an interface to control it remotely from any computer. mmmm....
Vidi, Vici, Veni
(whoops, the proper url is here... dunno how that extra %3C/a snuck in there...)
I would rather just fork out the extra money and build one of these
Someday, we'll look back on this, laugh nervously and change the subject.
Also, if I'm on a trip chances are I'll have my laptop with me to serve as a base station for my mp3 player. Need new tunes? Just boot it up and upload new selections. I can have 4-5 gigs available that way, even if the player only holds 64 megs.
I also jog/run quite a bit, and I'm afraid I just don't trust mechanical media however buffered to work uninterrupted while being subjected to consistent jarring.
If none of these things bother you though, minidisc probably is the right way to go.
Obasan
If a tree falls in the forest, and kills a mime, does anyone care?
See empegcar for a slightly more expensive alternative...
Just heard from a friend that he's got one of these 36GB in-dash Linux-running monsters. Gonna have to have a look at it.
[
Because for three times the cost, you get ten times the music. No CD's to carry around, works better than a CD player (Less skipping).
Erik Z
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
You are correct in all your assertations.
:)
:)
There is a small market for minidisc, however, outside of the consumer-music mainstream. MD-DATA has made an inroad in the project studio market, with several products (Yamaha in particular) designed for multitrack recording on the MD-DATA.
Tapers have also shown interest in minidisc, mainly because of it's small size and inexpense compared to DAT. If you're doing stealth taping (because the band doesn't allow it) minidisc is a good medium for you.*
Now there's fierce competition in the home recording market, with Zip drive recording, hard disk recording, "budget" ADATs and DA-38s.. I think fostex even makes a machine with a SCSI port, so you can use Zip, Jazz, SCSI HD, or whatever you want. It will be interesting to see if minidisc survives in this market. (I hope it does, because I own a Yamaha MD8).
I agree that minidisc is probably a lost cause for retail music, but Sony has found some interesting ways to keep it alive. Their new MP3 player also plays ATRAC, and the software that comes with it rips to ATRAC, not MP3.
The main reason for my post was the disagreement with the statement "it will die in 5 years or less, I predict"
I think it was the "I predict" that really got to me.
later- wish
* I do not endorse the taping of bands who do not permit it. I believe that bands would gain from permitting it, but if they don't I respect that.
Vote for freedom!
---
I believe this would be a good time to plug Minidisc... Please stand by as I climb on my little soap box and starting raving and ranting..
:)
Minidisc's have been around for years and for now, I believe them superior to portable/personal mp3 units in many ways:
1) 74 or 80 Minutes of media/music for around $2 a disc compared to around $200 for a 64 meg expansion for most mp3 players.
2) You can buy tons of blank minidiscs and record your favorite songs to them and take them on road trips and such. With most non-hard drive mp3 units you have to use a laptop or desktop system with the correct transfer software and accesss to your mp3's when you want to change the songs.
3) Most portable mini-disc units can record (digitally and analog) and playback. Want to go record that live performance of the Backdoor Boys or Britney Arguilera, take your minidisc recorder and a mic with you in your pocket.
4) Most smaller portable minidisc units are around the same size as the popular mp3 units.
5) Edit songs on the fly. Most minidisc units allow editing of the media on the disc. This includes slitting, combining, re-ordering and deleting songs.
There are of course a few down-side of minidisc compared to mp3 but since I'm preaching for minidisc, there's no way I'm going to mention those here..
Check out http://www.minidisc.org for more information..
Thank you, and have a nice day!
Actually I took an old Compaq 386 laptop and did the same thing...cept that I used a CD ROM, and a boot disk. Thing was pretty small because Compaq layared the motherboard in the particular model I had. I ran pretty good, but it needed more RAM to really keep up with playing the MP3s extensively..
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." -Jules de Gautier
I wish I didn't have to explain these things, but ah well.
What the hell is that supposed to mean? Have you been hanging out with gangsta rappers or something???
Rob, you're losing touch with your inner geek, it's not even funny... Add to this the fact you're once again rubbing your money in our face, and I'm wondering if you won't rename Slashdot 'News for nouveau riches. Stuff that costs a leg' soon.
$140 to do it yourself? And that's just for the circuit board that doesn't yet support the DRAM. You still have to provide a hard drive ($100) a power supply ($20) and the memory ($20). So the actual cost is $300 for a very fragile homemade unit.
Thanks, but no. For now, I keep converting MP3s to CDs and use my $50 Walkman.
Now, as a hobbyist demo, this is cool, but hobby projects aren't done on the basis of cost.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
This would be perfect if you could have a built in NIC that can mount an SMB file system or NFS. Combine that with an LCD, and you've got the perfect interface for your stereo with mp3's without having to keep a klunky computer or expensive laptop around....
The point (for me) of MP3 is to be the biggest damn auto-changer there is with no change-over delay. I have a lot of CDs, I dislike searching through them for an odd track, and it's impractical to carry them around. With this device I can carry my whole CD collection with me.
A Pioneer 100-disk changer was about $500-600 last time I checked, and still has a change delay, isn't computer controlled, and couldn't reasonably be called portable.
My current solution is a removable caddy with a 40Gb drive, which is now full halfway though ripping my CDs. This still needs a PC to be useful. Bigger drives are around now, so a portable (as in small boombox) MP3 device with 80Gb+ is not at all unreasonable, and the price is good if that is what you want. It's not a rio competitor.
"don't fall into the fallacy of believing that Perl can solve social problems. Maybe Perl 6 can, but that's a ways off"
What cases will this and a disk fit in? I look forward to the Cases Catalog and Cases Contest Results.
I think I've discovered how you're going to finance the purchase, though.....
I clicked on your nifty link, I'm astounded: you are an entreprenuer of the most prodigous sort!
Not only are you selling your slashdot account, you're getting over $100 for it. Sure it's not stock in VA Linux, but who knew that we all had equity in our slashdot accounts? Now we can all Karma Farm for profit!
One note: you said the +1 bonus kicks in at about 50 in your auction. That may have been true once upon a time, but I have two accounts with +1 and they're not above fifty. Seems to me it kicked in about 25.
Libertarianism is rich wolves and poor sheep playing gambler's ruin for dinner.
Why spend 3 times as much when you can get an MP3/CD player for about $130? Works great, and you can use it just like any other portable CD player.
-- Dr. Eldarion --
Note, at this time (Aug 31, 2000) the firmware does not yet support the DRAM. This means it will work without a SIMM
"`Ford, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.'" -THHGTTG
It seems like it would make swapping media a heck of lot easier... if I'm running this thing in an car, I don't wanna go using a HD anyway. CD-ROM or flash would be preferable.
Oops! Another bumpy road - there's $250 down the tubes.. :)
If it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.
Why the hell bother with the Empeg when you can play MP3 CDs?!
- A.P.
--
"One World, one Web, one Program" - Microsoft promotional ad
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
- A.P.
--
"One World, one Web, one Program" - Microsoft promotional ad
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"