NES Controller MP3 player hack

Skadet writes "Martin Kersch of Germany made great use of a boring Saturday afternoon by transforming an ordinary USB Stick and NES Controller into an MP3 Player (original German). He even hacked the buttons on the controller to work with the mp3 player, "Start" is On/Play, and the directional pad functions as the song changer/volume control. Do you remember those NES Controller Belt Buckles? They should integrate these MP3 Players into those things."

Comments

PLEASE use nyud.net

[un1xl0ser]

http://www.techeblog.com.nyud.net:8090/index.php/t ech-gadget/nes-controller-mp3-player

Seriously folks, this is silly.

Re:PLEASE use nyud.net

[talon001100]

I cant believe so many people on here are downing this guy for being creative and inventive. Yeah sure theres a million kinds of mp3 players out there, and the thing is simple in design , but COME ON! i applaud the guy for being creative. and hell yes i'd carry one around with me if i had a NES controller mp3 player. because NO ONE else would have one, and i know almost everyone(of the 80's generation) has played a NES.

Re:PLEASE use nyud.net

[Viper Daimao]

in his defense, my internet filter at work blocks nyud.net because it's an anonymizer so I'm grateful he posted the original link.

Re:PLEASE use nyud.net

[erlenic]

What about those of us stuck behind a Microsoft DNS server? We can't use this silly nyud.net thing. See http://wiki.coralcdn.org/wiki.php/Main/FAQ#SERVFAI L.
I'm glad he posted the original link, so I can get to it.

Re:PLEASE use nyud.net

[Valegor]

I have no use or desire for an MP3 player, but I would buy this one in a second if it were cheap. Hell if there were actual instructions I would attempt to build it.

Re:PLEASE use nyud.net

[Iron Clad Burrito]

Seriously folks, this is silly.

Truth. Boingboing called, they want their content back.

Re:PLEASE use nyud.net

[un1xl0ser]

Use a DNS server that doesn't have a bug. :-P

Re:PLEASE use nyud.net

[petermgreen]

They claim to have a workaround in place for if its purely a ms server, if there is a ms server delegating to a unix server though then the workaround won't work.

but anyway which would you preffer
1: a slashdotted site that noone can access?
2: a non-slashdotted site that requires you to edit the url to visit it if you are on a shitty network?

Some features better than others...

[A Boy and His Blob]

Switching the keylock on and off gets a little cumbersome, up up down down left right left right B A start.

Re:Some features better than others...

[drinkypoo]

It's actually up up down down left right left right B A *SELECT* start, you friendless bastard...

There's actually about nine zillion versions of that fucking code, you anonymous bastard...

Re:Some features better than others...

[drinkypoo]

Either "about nine zillion" or "exactly two", depending on the amount of hyperbole you're comfortable with.

I know from personal experience that you can fudge the code several ways on the original Contra and get things done. The original is UUDDLRLRBASeSt. You can also do UUDDLLRRBABASt, and several others. In Super C you type RLDUABSt (1 player) or RLDUABSeSt (2 player) for 10 lives or UUDDLRLRBASt (no Select) for 30 lives. Other Konami games use other variations of the code for other things. Some variations of the code are entered during gameplay; entering a code for an older game will kill you in a newer one.

In other words, you don't know jack about shit.

I'm just trying to picture this...

[afaik_ianal]

Walking down the street with a NES controller strapped to your belt: Yep, that's gonna be a good look... Why is it I can't picture anyone but Steve Irkle doing this?

Re:I'm just trying to picture this...

[AndroidCat]

Darn, and I was wondering what up up down down left right left right B A start would do on her controller.

Re:I'm just trying to picture this...

[Takeel]

Walking down the street with a NES controller strapped to your belt: Yep, that's gonna be a good look... Why is it I can't picture anyone but Steve Irkle doing this?

It worked for Captain N.

Re:I'm just trying to picture this...

[Kusunose]

With Game Boy Micro 20th Anniversary Edition and Play-Yan, you can achieve that.
It looks like a Famicom controller, not a NES controller though.

Re:I'm just trying to picture this...

[dex.pdx]

Walking down the street with a NES controller strapped to your belt: Yep, that's gonna be a good look... Why is it I can't picture anyone but Steve Irkle doing this?

You have obviously never seen a hipster...

... tis

[lordsilence]

sacrilege!

And if you can't find a USB stick

[afaik_ianal]

If you can't find a USB stick, then you can always get one of these, although the music selection is a little bit limited...

Was I the only one to think of this?

[Killjoy_NL]

CAPTAIN N

(and later in the series, the lame gameboy)

No need to read the article this time

[llamaluvr]

"Skadet of Slashdot made great use of a boring Monday morning by transforming an ordinary blurb on Techeblog into a front-page Slashdot article. He even hacked it to include hyperlinks, with a special add-on link to display the blurb in its original German. Do you remember when you actually had to click the links to really know what the story was about? More Slashdotters should integrate the entire article's text into the summary.

Re:No need to read the article this time

[yincrash]

wouldn't techblog have copyrights on their text. this is a pretty blantant reuse of the text.

A few good hacks

[Gridpoet]

here are a few more good NES controller hacks i've seen.

http://zieak.com/projects/nintendo_mouse.htm http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000170054942/ http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1884557466834213/

Enjoy!

Re:A few good hacks

[Filip22012005]

Then, there's this:

http://www.alldumb.com/item/12004/

You need a remote control

[axonis]

Now if you modded the new Xbox 360 wireless controllers that would of been cool....

How

[Simon Lyngshede]

This is stupid. I like the idea of building an mp3 player from a normalt USB stick, the NES controller is less interesting. So, can I go build an mp3 player now? NO, the article sucks, it just "Oh, oh, oh, look what I did". For all we know it doesn't even work.

Tell me how you build the bloody thing. What hardware did you use. I doubt that the NES controller has the parts and just need you to plugin the USB stick.

Stupid story.

Re:How

[MyDixieWrecked]

I agree.

is the summary lying? they said the buttons were mapped to do stuff.

http://www.futurenews.at/uploads/NESAMP3.jpg

look at that picture. the A and B buttons aren't even attached to anything.

perhaps it's just start/select and the D-pad that are mapped?

this kinda reminds me of that guy who claimed to have connected a USB keyboard to a PSP's USB port and written drivers to get it working. only pictures, no technical details. no proof.

Re:How

[Stevyn]

The article/blurb never mentioned anything about the A and B buttons. This doesn't look that complicated. It seems more Dremel skills are needed than electrical engineering. All you'd have to do it break apart the MP3 player and wire the switch contacts over to the D-Pad switch contacts. It looks cool, but its got to be a lot bigger than the original. I would have liked it more if a better battery system was used. A rechargeable cell phone battery packed in there might have been a little cooler and to get some more life out of it.

Re:How

[hotgigs]

This reminds me of all the stoners back in High School who would make a bong out of anything... perhaps this is the geek version... "Check out what I made into an MP3 player... "You put your songs in it..."

Re:How

[martin_at]

Just to clarify that: It is beyond me why some of the Slashdot folks are calling this a fake. All I did was disassemble an ordinary USB MP3 stick (a SHE MP-101 BD, to be exact), cut the NES controllers PCB to size, and wire the buttons to the MP3 players button contacts. The holes for the headphones and USB connector where indeed done using a dremel tool. This is of course not wizardry, but I still think its pretty cool to have a custom player like that. If you don't like it, don't read it (I wasn't expecting to find this on slashdot anyway). Btw., as anyone with at least basic www knowledge should be able to recognize: .at stands for Austria. I am not from Germany. But then again, flaming is so much easier than thinking.

Re:How

[narcc]

It's clear that he used one of those USB/MP3 players that are all-too-common. If you've never seen one before: Check this out

Also, there is no reason to doubt that someone could, in fact, make their own MP3 player with parts they can buy. Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's impossible. (After all, how do you think these products get into the stores? Magic?)

This fellow? No. It's clearly one of those MP3/USB Flash Drives (or whatever the popular term for them is now) stuck inside an NES controler. Look at the photos -- No Magic Here. Still fun though.

Re:How

[neomunk]

I like it. Just disregard the trolls, they just like to hang around at swat at anything cooler than them.

This is how...

[tinkertaylor99]

He must have used one of those USB sticks that's also an mp3 player already with a headphone cable that has the controller on it, then just connected the buttons to the NES controller with wire. next please.

Re:This is how...

[AcidLacedPenguiN]

Actually, It kind of looks like a Nomad Muvo, with its casing intact. . .

Some cool NES hacks

[karthik_r085]

http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/nes/index.php

Useless...

[mekkab]

A link like this is a far greater use than a simple "Hey, I put an mp3 player in an unlikely spot! Here are some pictures and absolutely no explanation!!"
This is like having the Phantom console make the slashdot front page! Oh, wait. Nevermind.

/Now if he had put Linux on a toaster, then we'd be all ears...

Is it me...

[bibi-pov]

...or is this mp3 player laid on top of a "copy control" vinyl disc ? :-)

I want my minute back

[jweller]

or a how2. anyone can stuff a bunch of crap into a box it didn't come in, take a pic and say it's something cool.

Is this for real?

[Phoenix]

Or is this yet another case of phantom-ware? All we have are a few pictures of an old NES controller with a headphone cable coming out of it.

Big whoop, my little sister could do that. Heck! I have a picture of her with a sandwich in the VCR. What's stopping me from posting that as a VCR hack that'll toast a sandwich like a Quiznos sub?.

Now I'm all for hacking stuff like that but without any notes to tell us how it was done, it's just a waste of bandwidth. Even if I had no intention of doing it, just to be able to say "Ah-ha! so that's how he did it." is more of an interesting read than simply "Oh look, a NES controller with a USB port on it...whoopty-freaking-do."

Hell, the Furby hacking article a few years ago was more interesting than this because they TOLD you which chip they replaced and how to attach the audio in port for recording new audio for the Furby to say. In fact it gave people ideas on how to turn a toy into a tool for helping autistic children by hacking it.

Phoenix

Re:Is this for real?

[epedersen]

if you look at it the USB stick already had a head phone jack on it. I think he started with one of the USB sticks that can play mp3's already, then replaed the buttons with the ones on the controler. If that is the case, yes I think that this is real.

IPOD killer: The NES MP3 belt buckle.

[denis-The-menace]

Coming soon:
It's the NES controller with built-in MP3 player. Wireless headphone included.

Also in development:
The NES MP3/phone. Only vibrates when someone calls. Wireless headphone included. Also vibrates when you press the B button.
tagline: "Reach out and cum someone"

Slashdot ya been had,

[wangotango]

This is totally bogus.... and anyone looking closely at the photos of the unit already knows it.

Actually,

[Prince Vegeta SSJ4]

walk into a club with one of those things. And when a girl ask you what it is, you can tell her it is a controller for your joystick.

He isn't German

[pafrusurewa]

He's Austrian. The .at URL could have been a hint. Or is this supposed to be a subtle commentary about Americans' knowledge of geography? ;-)

Re:He isn't German

[Ed_Pinkley]

Austria! Well, then. G'day mate! Let's put another shrimp on the barbie!

(I'm American. It's a joke. Google it.)

Re:He isn't German

[-Grover]

Completley off topic, but I have to wonder how many of the people who read slashdot have ANY idea what comes after the ... in your sig, not to mention who did it and why it is SOOOO friggin hilarious. I'm also digging the Pinkly Motors reference...god bless B&T and all they stand for...my morning would be no good without them.

Re:He isn't German

[Celsius 233]

AmeriWHAA???

Re:He isn't German

[Ed_Pinkley]

Thanks. You are the first to say anything. I figure Slashdot is no stranger to obscure humor. I agree with you about B&T. It's the only thing keeping me sane in my little cubical. I swear to god, man!

Ed Pinkley

Errr.....why?

[Cougem]

A remote control for a device you keep on your person?
Sounds a tad pointless/awkward

Re:fake!

[narcc]

That's most likely *exactly* how he did it -- It's not complicated at all. When I was a child (~10) I used to do exactly that. i.e. I'd rip appart those 'hand-held electronic games' and solder in leads to use homemade controlers. The buttons on those things are nothing more than a simple switch (big shock!) so it doens't take much skill or intelligence to 'hack' such a device in the same manner this fellow did. What's Cool about this hack is that he took something from our childhood and made it into something new. Nostalgia is still king :)

Remember: Just because you can't explain it doesn't mean it's inexplicable!

Re:fake!

[captaindredd]

if you guys were literate enough to read this, one of the links provided,

" Btw., it is beyond me why some of the Slashdot folks are calling this a fake. All I did was disassemble an ordinary USB MP3 stick (a SHE MP-101 BD, to be exact), cut the NES controllers PCB to size, and wire the buttons to the MP3 players button contacts. The holes for the headphones and USB connector where indeed done using a dremel tool. This is of course not wizardry, but I still think its pretty cool to have a custom player like that. If you don't like it, don't read it."

the link is the one that says original in german, read that, then wallow in your own stupidity, your all damn retards

Re:fake!

[narcc]

Did you mean to reply to the parent? I was asserting that this project was not, in fact, fake.