Need advice on building my own mp3 player with Raspberry Pi

[Lucky Me]

I'm thinking of building my own MP3 player to use at work. At the moment I use an iPod Nano 7th gen.

 

Here's what I am thinking of:

• Screen, to see what's playing (maybe color?), may or may not be a touchscreen
• Easy to use with functions like play by genre, album, songs, and bands.
• Bluetooth, to connect with my Bone Conductor Headset.
• Intel SSD 520 series, 180Gb, for the music storage (SSD is lying around) included.
• USB connection to recharge the headset.

 

What would I need to build this for myself? I have no clue what to look for, software and hardware wish.

Did I forget anything?

[Crunchy Dragon]

Does it need to be portable or is it just a desktop device?

[ToboRobot]

Battery is an option. 

I would spend some time searching for existing projects I did a quick google and there are some like https://homenetworkguy.com/how-to/build-compact-raspberry-pi-zero-powered-music-player/

or things like https://www.hifiberry.com/hifiberryos/

You can think about local storage, or network streaming the music as well/instead.

If you could source the classic ipod scroll wheels I would totally build myself a modern multi terabye iPod replacement.

[Lucky Me]

28 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Does it need to be portable or is it just a desktop device?

Nope, it doesn't need to be portable. Desktop device is good... I don't care about the size, but not too big would be great.

 

26 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

Battery is an option. 

I would spend some time searching for existing projects I did a quick google and there are some like https://homenetworkguy.com/how-to/build-compact-raspberry-pi-zero-powered-music-player/

or things like https://www.hifiberry.com/hifiberryos/

You can think about local storage, or network streaming the music as well/instead.

If you could source the classic ipod scroll wheels I would totally build myself a modern multi terabye iPod replacement.

I would rather have it plugged into the wall. So I don't have to recharge it every time the battery is low.

 

I tried searching for it, but I didn't know where to look, I'll check them out.

 

Thank you both for your quick posts...

[jaslion]

7 minutes ago, Lucky Me said:

Nope, it doesn't need to be portable. Desktop device is good... I don't care about the size, but not too big would be great.

 

I would rather have it plugged into the wall. So I don't have to recharge it every time the battery is low.

 

I tried searching for it, but I didn't know where to look, I'll check them out.

 

Thank you both for your quick posts...

Isnt this becoming more of a mini pc that will play music via a media player device than anything else?

 

 

[ToboRobot]

8 minutes ago, Lucky Me said:

 

I would rather have it plugged into the wall. So I don't have to recharge it every time the battery is low.

 

I tried searching for it, but I didn't know where to look, I'll check them out.

 

Thank you both for your quick posts...

Absolutely external power is a good idea, but at the risk of complexity, battery is a nice option.  But if you power it via something like USB-C, you can leverage existing power supplies and have the option of using a USB powerbank that are fairly common these days for mobile power, or music if the power goes out.  Also means you can power it from a computer at your desk instead of finding an outlet. 

lots of pi projects on reddit!

[saintlouisbagels]

Any reason why you wouldn't just buy an old flagship Android phone? I recently bought a Note 20 Ultra for $200 to screw around with. Love the huge display and S Pen.

[Lucky Me]

1 hour ago, jaslion said:

Isnt this becoming more of a mini pc that will play music via a media player device than anything else?

 

 

Not sure... All I am looking for is a "device" that is small enough and can play the music from MP3. Doesn't need the Internet, just the SSD full of my music.

 

18 minutes ago, saintlouisbagels said:

Any reason why you wouldn't just buy an old flagship Android phone? I recently bought a Note 20 Ultra for $200 to screw around with. Love the huge display and S Pen.

Thought about it. To use my old iPhone 8+ as a media player, but I need to charge it when the battery is low. Can't I simply use a power supply for Raspberry?

I would love to have a go at a Raspberry Pi, just to learn and make something myself, but I just don't know where to start.

[Needfuldoer]

How about modding an old iPod Classic? These days there are solder-less kits that add USB-C charging and Bluetooth to them, and if you start with a 160 gig model the sky's the limit when it comes to storage.

[Lucky Me]

5 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

How about modding an old iPod Classic? These days there are solder-less kits that add USB-C charging and Bluetooth to them, and if you start with a 160 gig model the sky's the limit when it comes to storage.

I still use my iPod Nano 7th gen., with everything on it, except for the 160 Gb.

[jaslion]

6 hours ago, Lucky Me said:

Thought about it. To use my old iPhone 8+ as a media player, but I need to charge it when the battery is low. Can't I simply use a power supply for Raspberry?

Whilst terrible for the  attery you can just leave it plugged in.

 

Hell you can buy any cheap ol laptop, unplug the battery and leave it plugged in.

 

Or use a desktop, dvd player, random mp3 player, netbook, mini pc, phone, tablet,... anything that supports mp3 files really.

 

 

[Lucky Me]

19 hours ago, Lucky Me said:

I'm thinking of building my own MP3 player to use at work. At the moment I use an iPod Nano 7th gen.

 

Here's what I am thinking of:

• Screen, to see what's playing (maybe color?), may or may not be a touchscreen
• Easy to use with functions like play by genre, album, songs, and bands.
• Bluetooth, to connect with my Bone Conductor Headset.
• Intel SSD 520 series, 180Gb, for the music storage (SSD is lying around) included.
• USB connection to recharge the headset.

 

What would I need to build this for myself? I have no clue what to look for, software and hardware wish.

Did I forget anything?

So what would be wise to use? Raspberry 3, 4, 5?

 

I saw this touchscreen. Then a Raspberry needed to connect the SSD and 1 USB left to charge my bone conductor.

 

10 hours ago, jaslion said:

Whilst terrible for the  attery you can just leave it plugged in.

 

Hell you can buy any cheap ol laptop, unplug the battery and leave it plugged in.

 

Or use a desktop, dvd player, random mp3 player, netbook, mini pc, phone, tablet,... anything that supports mp3 files really.

 

 

So if I understand correctly Rasberry is always on battery?

 

19 hours ago, ToboRobot said:

 https://homenetworkguy.com/how-to/build-compact-raspberry-pi-zero-powered-music-player/
 

I guess he made another one and for me, it would need some tweeks (don't need to stream), just Bluetooth!

[saintlouisbagels]

23 hours ago, Lucky Me said:

Thought about it. To use my old iPhone 8+ as a media player, but I need to charge it when the battery is low. Can't I simply use a power supply for Raspberry?

iPhones are dumb and didn't introduce a charge limit until literally just last year with the iPhone 15-series.

 

If we use my Note 20 Ultra example again, it has a battery protect feature that stops charging at 85%. As long a battery is not chronically 0% or 100%, then it is safe to keep it charged 24/7. General advice it to keep a battery-powered device between 20%-80%

[Lucky Me]

good to know...