Small cheap short Wave/Mp3 player

[QuantumCheese]

Hi all,

What i'm after here is something a bit like one of those naff Xmas/B'day cards with a scratchy (but hilarious) audio playback when opened. I would prefer slightly better quality but nothing audiophile! lets say 3 sec audio, single channel, 22khz, battery powered, finer points TBA

I've done something similar to this before, the hard way, with a PIC, an Eprom and an R2R DAC. I know there are (or were) fully standalone single chip solutions too but they are a bit expensive and my old R2R design would be well and truly sledgehammer/walnut territory for this.

Anyone here done anything like this?
Ideally a codec for a PIC would be perfect and i could use a sml PIC & a little E2PROM but i'm open to suggestions....
Cheers.
Carl

 

[kellys_eye]

eBay has a gazillion listings for MP3 boards with such facilities and they can be purchased for only a few $.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TF-Card-U...612709?hash=item2eecb27025:g:-QcAAOSwEeFVC~Q3

 

[QuantumCheese]

Wow, that's a crazy price!

I only need to play one short file though. that says it can 'auto play' on start-up so it could work i guess & at that price you have to ask, why bother do it yourself..... I'll take another look on ebay, i've been thinking too low level it seems

 

[kellys_eye]

lol - in the last few years there has been massive changes in both technology and, more so, the pricing associated with it.
You can usually find a pre-made solution to any electronics problem these days - and if not a direct solution then at least the various modules necessary to create one!
At prices such as linked to I find myself ordering 'multiples' just to bolster the junk box I keep - you never know when something will come in useful..... (or, if the financial markets are anything to go by, prices will 'rocket')

 

[QuantumCheese]

I know, it crazy and depressing all at the same time. Almost any electronics project i can think of can be simply achieved with a piece of cheap Chinese tat, usually off ebay. It takes the fun out of electronics, as you don't need to know anything these days, just which module to buy!

(I usually buy two or three too on the grounds that at least one of them probably won't work!)

Thanks for the link though, it did lead me to find a similar item that also maybe overkill for this idea, but at <£1 I would be mad to continue re-inventing the wheel!