Have you ever wanted a mp3 player that can stand a lot of abuse, have a long battery life, take out in the rain and water without worry, and have a huge capacity? This is what I hope to achieve with this project!
SDXC cards
64gb, 128gb, 256gb theres even 512gb cards and bigger on the way I believe up to 2tb is planned! You can store every song you have! Also use it as a portable wireless hard drive!
Full blown linux!
Using a raspberry pi model a+ running vlc it can support any files you throw at it! mp3, mp4, flac, ogg, weba, aac, webm, wmv, anything vlc can play you got it! Also if you add a video it wont bother decoding the video just the audio so you can listen anywhere and watch it on other devices while not wasting power!
5 Batteries!
4 double a batteries and 1 lithium ion battery! With double a batteries you can have spares laying around and never have to wait for recharging!
Lots more but the description box wont let me type more lol
website coming soon
Components
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Raspberry Pi Model A+
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Double A USB Charger
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USB Sound Card
the raspberry pi sound isnt loud enough without it
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Headphones
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SDXC Card Reader
to allow for big sd cards with all your songs
Last night I bought a 3d printer so I can make prototypes of the case to contain this thing! It comes monday november 23rd which is already a great day because I should be finding out if my baby is going to be a boy or a girl!
Looking at my phone case and how its designed has given me ideas on how to make the slider water proof and make everything even more durable! I am still working on improving the software as I want it to do a lot more than just play music.
I have had such a busy week I haven't been able to put the time into this as I would like. I am going to do better about it though. The software side is coming along I am thinking a few weeks to get it going nicely. I am also working on a android version but I dont have as much experience with android programming (real programming not gui/webkit stuff i have done plenty of that stuff) so its not as far along I might just put it on hold while I get the raspberry pi/linux version going.
HELP NEEDED
I still haven't been able to find a waterproof slider switch for mode setting and locking the buttons if anyone has any ideas on what I can do for that I would really like to hear them! I would want a slider switch because it allows you to feel the position while its in your pocket but if there's something else that can do that too I'm fine with it but I don't know what it could be.
I am hoping this weekend to add a computer version of the music manager so everyone can see! I am also going to buy a usb networking adapter to make interfacing with the pi easier than switching my monitor input lol
I got a skull! Thank you so much it motivates me even more to get this going!
I havent even mentioned my motivation I work outside in big fields sometimes doing different things but im usually on a tractor or trimming palm trees and not around or not able to hear other people. I usually wear headphones that block sound to reduce ear damage. I also work in rain and tremendous florida heat and usually both in the same day lol. So I want a mp3 player that can withstand harsh conditions without questions and last a long time with the preference of holding all my songs and keeping track of what I like. Thats where this need is born from and I cant find anything that meets all those nicely.
I am about to start upgrading my first player from the old b to the new model a+ and found this video of running the a+ off 8 double a batteries for 44hours and those were rechargeable so not the same capacity as non rechargeable. I would like to get 16-20hrs from 4 double a and a internal battery that way it at least lasts 2 full days.
I AM LOOKING FOR A WATERPROOF SLIDER SWITCH FOR LOCKING THE BUTTONS IF YOU KNOW WHERE I CAN FIND ONE PLEASE LET ME KNOW! THANKS
This is the kind of initial prototype I dont have the model a+ setup yet I was previously using a old model b and had it working great but had to be controlled over the network I need to make some software and add buttons.
I have to use a usb sound card because the sound onboard the raspberry pi isnt as loud as I like. A problem I ran into is the a+ only has one usb port so cant connect wifi, sound card, and sdxc reader without a hub.
I think I will make two versions of this one that uses off the shelf components ie rasbperry pi or im also looking into odroid but also another project using any old cellphone running android found off ebay the reasoning is they are small come with wifi and decent sound built in also a battery for the 5th battery like I want.
I wiill work on the software for the buttons and get the model A+ working in the next few days and post another update!
For a waterproof slide switch, you might try putting magnetic reed switches inside the case and have a slider with a small magnet in it on the outside of the case. I'm not sure how widely separated the reed switches would need to be to have only one activate at a time. I have only done this with a single reed for on/off applications. Good luck, BobH
Thanks I was thinking this or maybe even optical reflection but that would require energy all the time so thats probably out. I was hoping for something simple I could just throw in thats not looking like it will be the case.
dont let this die, pls!