MP3 Player

Printable View

10-23-2000, 02:40 AM
chrisangelini

MP3 Player

I was browsing AIWA's site yesterday and had an interesting idea. I know a couple of guys back at school who purchased some parts and wired together an MP3 player for the car that was small, and operated via remote and a small LCD display that was installed into the sun visor of their car. I don't remember who the guys were, but their idea seemed even cooler than the decks that play MP3-CD's because you can use a 20GB HDD.

Now, I took two years of engineering, but I am far from an engineer. Would anyone like to participate in making a schematic and parts list for such a device? It would make an excellent how-to article and I think would look absolutely breathtaking on a nice car. Let me know what you engineering types think.

Ciao!

------------------
Chris Angelini
Editor
[email protected]
10-23-2000, 10:37 AM
zombor

well lots of ppl have done this...mabee search on www.sounddomain.com for it. There might be a full install procedure somewhere on that site.

------------------
Compaq Armada E500
650MHz PIII 128MB RAM
8MB ATI rage mobility
11GB hard drive/DVD
dual booting win98/2k

who said you cant game on a notebook????
10-31-2000, 03:42 PM
frankmccann

Chris,
Well I guess one could start by asking which elements of a motherbrd would be essential for running the unit. Flash memory is cheap now and could be used.
Essentailly you could have a buss and just enough other circuit elements to run the HD.
Interesting idea!

Quote:

Originally posted by chrisangelini:
I was browsing AIWA's site yesterday and had an interesting idea. I know a couple of guys back at school who purchased some parts and wired together an MP3 player for the car that was small, and operated via remote and a small LCD display that was installed into the sun visor of their car. I don't remember who the guys were, but their idea seemed even cooler than the decks that play MP3-CD's because you can use a 20GB HDD.

Now, I took two years of engineering, but I am far from an engineer. Would anyone like to participate in making a schematic and parts list for such a device? It would make an excellent how-to article and I think would look absolutely breathtaking on a nice car. Let me know what you engineering types think.

Ciao!
10-31-2000, 04:53 PM
jtshaw

There are small processors that are more then capable of decoding MP3's and speaking to an IDE bus. For a single unit you could probably build an MP3 player for around 100 (minus the hard disk) using something from Altera or another small microprocessor. I was at a little data book give away thing a week or so ago and Altera actually used MP3 playing as an example of what one of there chips could do. I also know there chips can communicate over an IDE bus (which is pretty simple to create). Only thing I can think of that could be annoying is the power constrants because of the harddrive.

------------------
My computer said "WindowsME/2000 or better" so I installed Linux.
11-02-2000, 06:06 PM
chrisangelini

I was actually thinking of using something like this: http://www.pjrc.com/tech/mp3/

The only problem is incorporating LCD support (which would replace the vanity mirror in the passenger side visor). Also, incorporating IR support - after this, the unit would remain completely invisible and very sharp looking and sounding https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/5.gif

Ciao!

------------------
Chris Angelini
Editor
[email protected]
11-03-2000, 02:22 AM
Bash

I'm sure there are cheaper ways to do this, but you could relatively easily build this out of a PC104 form-factor computer. You can get little PC104 boards that run low power Pentium chips that have all the normal computer interfaces built in. One of my friends is doing research involving these size computers. He's got a set of them that boot off a specialized linux kernel off a flash ram disk on the module.
This, I suppose, is overkill for an MP3 player.

This car MP3 player projects seems cool, though.

The player here does provide a good start to a reasonably low budget model. http://www.pjrc.com/tech/mp3/

It would probably be quite easy to hook up a remote (since they have plans for one on the site). An LCD with simple functionality would be pretty easy, but if you actually wanted to read the track names off the mp3 file...hrm...i'm sure it's possible somehow.

So many cool things to do...so little time to do them in.

-Bash
11-03-2000, 03:54 PM
jtshaw

Quote:

Originally posted by chrisangelini:
I was actually thinking of using something like this: http://www.pjrc.com/tech/mp3/

The only problem is incorporating LCD support (which would replace the vanity mirror in the passenger side visor). Also, incorporating IR support - after this, the unit would remain completely invisible and very sharp looking and sounding https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/5.gif

Ciao!

------------------
My computer said "WindowsME/2000 or better" so I installed Linux.
11-03-2000, 03:57 PM
jtshaw

If that thing has a RS-232 (serial port) interface anywhere on it then adding IR shouldn't be that difficult. Only problem is you would have to reprogram the chips to deal with data comming in. As far as the LCD is conserned if it has any kind of built in display controller (preferably 1/4 VGA or full VGA) that would be easy to implement. If it would require adding a display controller then it could still be done via an LCD that has it's own display driving abilities but it would need some way to send data to be displayed (ie another serial port or something).

Quote:

Originally posted by chrisangelini:
I was actually thinking of using something like this: http://www.pjrc.com/tech/mp3/

The only problem is incorporating LCD support (which would replace the vanity mirror in the passenger side visor). Also, incorporating IR support - after this, the unit would remain completely invisible and very sharp looking and sounding https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/5.gif

Ciao!

------------------
My computer said "WindowsME/2000 or better" so I installed Linux.
11-03-2000, 05:08 PM
Bash

Quote:

Originally posted by jtshaw:
As far as the LCD is conserned if it has any kind of built in display controller (preferably 1/4 VGA or full VGA) that would be easy to implement. If it would require adding a display controller then it could still be done via an LCD that has it's own display driving abilities but it would need some way to send data to be displayed (ie another serial port or something).

About the LCD...I'm sure it would be pretty easy to hook one up. The problem is actually getting the information to print on it. I haven't looked really closely at the MP3 player that's linked to a few times on this thread, but I'd suspect that it doesnt do a lot with the MP3 file except grab it and dump it through a decoder. I'd bet that stripping off the track name / performer to display when you're playing the file along with a little song timer / clock would be quite a bit of added work. It would be fun to play with...too bad I dont still have access to an FPGA development board.

-Bash
11-05-2000, 06:28 PM
jtshaw

I am pretty sure I have an FPGA development board around here somewhere. My company does a lot of custom designs using LCD's and VFD's. LCD's are easy to drive as long as we could get data to it to display.

Quote:

Originally posted by Bash:
About the LCD...I'm sure it would be pretty easy to hook one up. The problem is actually getting the information to print on it. I haven't looked really closely at the MP3 player that's linked to a few times on this thread, but I'd suspect that it doesnt do a lot with the MP3 file except grab it and dump it through a decoder. I'd bet that stripping off the track name / performer to display when you're playing the file along with a little song timer / clock would be quite a bit of added work. It would be fun to play with...too bad I dont still have access to an FPGA development board.

-Bash

------------------
My computer said "WindowsME/2000 or better" so I installed Linux.
11-06-2000, 05:00 AM
chrisangelini

The LCD seemed like the hardest part to me. I think there is a 4-pin connector to get data to the LCD.

I talked to a local car-audio and alarm shop today that might want to give this project a shot. Of course there is still the issue of getting all these parts to work together https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/5.gif

------------------
Chris Angelini
Editor
[email protected]
11-06-2000, 03:02 PM
IL96

seems sophisticated to me. I'm thinking about a simpler solution, a 748MOBO with everything built in (sound, video, modem, lan, etc) a celeron, HDD and in a BOOK PC case. The mobo and the case which is very small is about $150 + $50 CPU + $70 HDD +$50 RAM (well i have plenty of RAM) +$20 LCD.
BTW guy, by LCD i mean the character (alpha numeric) 40x4 display with an LED backlight.
OS either Windows or Linux. RF or IR remote. Of yeah one more thing the power suply. Wel that can be done using MAXIM IC's to convert 12V to 5V.

------------------
What we're dealing with here is a total lack of respect for the law...
Prodigy
11-06-2000, 04:37 PM
chrisangelini

IL96,

The idea behind my idea is to have a functioning system that will fit in the glovebox of a Miata. Unfortunately, I am not too sure how I could fit an entire mini-system in there. The price for a graphical LCD is close to $1,000, so I think I'd stick to an alpha-numeric as well.

Ciao!

------------------
Chris Angelini
Editor
[email protected]
11-06-2000, 04:44 PM
IL96

Well if you want, you can get a 5-6" 640x480 VGA/NTSC LCD screen for about $100 here -> www.eio.com. I'have 40x4 lcd hooked up to my home pc and i'm using one of the plugins for winamp, it really kicks ***, even displays the jumping bars.

------------------
What we're dealing with here is a total lack of respect for the law...
Prodigy
11-06-2000, 05:28 PM
Bash

Quote:

Originally posted by chrisangelini:
The LCD seemed like the hardest part to me. I think there is a 4-pin connector to get data to the LCD.

I talked to a local car-audio and alarm shop today that might want to give this project a shot. Of course there is still the issue of getting all these parts to work together https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/5.gif

What price range are you hoping for on this project? You can get a PC104+ (3.6 x 3.8 inch) form factor low power pentium for around $500 I think. That way you could use a linux kernel and not have to worry about trying to do disk access with an ASIC. You can get a PC104 with graphics, disk, sound, USB, network, ...everything you'd need already assembled in a little package.

-Bash
11-06-2000, 10:17 PM
chrisangelini

$500 wouldn't be too bad if that pretty much covered it all. Any idea where I can find one of those, Bash? This is sounding really cool!

Ciao!

------------------
Chris Angelini
Editor
[email protected]
11-07-2000, 09:19 AM
IL96

www.pc104.com
They have a list of vendors.

------------------
What we're dealing with here is a total lack of respect for the law...
Prodigy
11-07-2000, 10:19 AM
zombor

hell, if i want to play mp3s in my car, all i gotta do is hook my laptop into my amp...heh

------------------
Compaq Armada E500
650MHz PIII 128MB RAM
8MB ATI rage mobility
11GB hard drive/DVD
dual booting win98/2k

who said you cant game on a notebook????
11-07-2000, 03:16 PM
Bash

Quote:

Originally posted by chrisangelini:
$500 wouldn't be too bad if that pretty much covered it all. Any idea where I can find one of those, Bash? This is sounding really cool!

Ciao!

One of my friends who bought a bunch of these should be in later today. I'll ask him which vendor he recommends & post it down here:

.........

-Bash
11-10-2000, 03:53 AM
bhirsch

http://ssiamerica.com/products/neo35/

Enough said https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/5.gif

hehe

------------------
Thanks,
Benjamin Hirsch
Technical Analyst / Lab Manager
SharkyExtreme
"Drive it like you stole it!"
11-16-2000, 10:51 PM
100%TotallyNude

Quote:

Originally posted by bhirsch:
http://ssiamerica.com/products/neo35/

Hey, thanks for the link bhirsch! I'm eyeing this little number right here:
http://ssiamerica.com/ecom/itm00007.htm

[This message has been edited by 100%TotallyNude (edited November 16, 2000).]

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 01:15 PM.