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MP3 player reading from USB flash drive — Parallax Forums

MP3 player reading from USB flash drive

eagletalontimeagletalontim Posts: 1,399
edited 2012-03-02 18:05 in Propeller 1
And yet another project I am wanting to build if possible. What I am hoping to do is have a basic MP3 player using the prop which will randomly select an MP3 from 3 or 4 USB flash drives. The reason for so many is this is for my work and each person can bring their own playlist on their own flash drive. Is this something that is doable? I would like to build this as basic as possible.

Comments

  • ThricThric Posts: 109
    edited 2012-03-02 12:11
    Everything is possible! But getting the propeller to be a master USB is going to be close to impossible. What you could do is use another chip to do the USB interface (http://www.parallax.com/StoreSearchResults/tabid/768/txtSearch/usb/List/0/SortField/4/catpageindex/3/ProductID/434/Default.aspx) and then have the propeller communicate with that. I don't think it would be too difficult to put together, but (for me at least) it would cost a descent amount ($40 x 4 $160 for just the USB host).

    I haven't really dealt with audio files or the likes, but this project is definitively possible in my mind.

    I'm just curious, why are you going with USB flash drives. I know most laptops have a multi-card reader so could you use SD cards? This would be a much cheaper solution and easier to implement on the prop I think.
  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,844
    edited 2012-03-02 12:19
    I would look at the VNC2 chip... I think each chip can host 2 USB drives and they only cost $5 or so each...
    But, you'd probably have to program them to work the way you want...
  • T ChapT Chap Posts: 4,223
    edited 2012-03-02 14:52
    Look at the Vmusic2 module. I uses a Vinculum and a VSLI VS1003 as the mp3 decoder.
  • eagletalontimeagletalontim Posts: 1,399
    edited 2012-03-02 16:10
    I was thinking flash drives since just about everyone at the shop has one. I probably could go with SD cards though. Did not really think of that. What about an MP3 processor or would the Prop do that? Like I said, I want to build this as simple as possible and hopefully as cheap as possible. It will only be one that I will be building so I would like to see about getting a small parts list together so I don't have to pay shipping more than once.
  • Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL)Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL) Posts: 1,720
    edited 2012-03-02 16:14
    Vmusic2 module
    http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Documents/DataSheets/Modules/DS_VMUSIC2.pdf

    I had planned to order one for myself this weekend. :smile:
  • pedwardpedward Posts: 1,642
    edited 2012-03-02 16:15
    There's a guy on the forums that already did USB bus master for talking to a bluetooth module. It works, it's a bit of a hack. The Viniculum chip is a good solution because it handles the heavy lifting and it more in line with your skill level at this point (hacking USB isn't easy to do).
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2012-03-02 16:18
    Here is a link to my VMusic2 project http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?135033-IR-Remote-controlled-VMUSIC2-MP3-Player

    At $37, it would be expensive for four modules...
  • eagletalontimeagletalontim Posts: 1,399
    edited 2012-03-02 16:36
    Is the Viniculum chip just to talk to USB? If so, I would not need to use it for SD cards right? One other thing is the shop guys don't have a lot of computer experience and telling them that they need to format their SD card to FAT format would confuse the Smile out of them. Is there a way to use NTFS with the Prop to make it easier for the shop guys to load music?
  • CircuitsoftCircuitsoft Posts: 1,166
    edited 2012-03-02 16:45
    Windows formats thumb drives to FAT. I've never seen a thumb drive with NTFS, and I was only able to make one in Linux, though Windows did understand it...

    As for MP3 playback, try this.
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2012-03-02 16:48
    eagletalontim wrote: »
    Is the Viniculum chip just to talk to USB? If so, I would not need to use it for SD cards right? One other thing is the shop guys don't have a lot of computer experience and telling them that they need to format their SD card to FAT format would confuse the Smile out of them. Is there a way to use NTFS with the Prop to make it easier for the shop guys to load music?

    Yes, the Vinculum chip is the USB host. I don't think anyone has created a NTFS driver for SD cards. Might be a little too large/complex for a Propeller.
  • eagletalontimeagletalontim Posts: 1,399
    edited 2012-03-02 16:59
    Well, wow. I never did pay attention to the file system of an SD card. Thanks for informing me of that.

    The chip Circuitsoft posted... Does that come in DIP style? If I went SM, I would have to have a circuit board made for this one project. That is pretty pricey and my last one I tried to make on my own turned out really bad :(
  • CircuitsoftCircuitsoft Posts: 1,166
    edited 2012-03-02 17:01
    Search SparkFun for "mp3". They have several versions of the chips and several breakout boards. None of the chips are DIP, but the breakout boards should be easy enough to use.

    As for circuit boards, check out BatchPCB.
  • eagletalontimeagletalontim Posts: 1,399
    edited 2012-03-02 17:45
    Ok, I have located this which is a reasonable price :

    http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10608 - Breakout Board for VS1033D MP3

    Along with this :

    http://www.sparkfun.com/products/544 - Breakout Board for microSD Transflash

    How would the Prop play a roll in this circuit? If I need to randomly select a song from 1 of 4 SD cards, would the Prop do that? Would the SD cards be connected to the Prop which would pull the randomly selected MP3 and send it through the VS1033D?
  • CircuitsoftCircuitsoft Posts: 1,166
    edited 2012-03-02 18:05
    In a word, yes. What you describe has (almost) all been done before, too. See here.
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