Bluetooth questions

I have this tiny MP3 player made by Sansa that I like a lot. Enough
that I might buy a couple more to replace the one I have now when I
break it. Which I will do inevitably. But it does not have Bluetooth.
So I have been looking at Bluetooth adapters. I can buy very small
adapters that plug into the USB slot on my computer. The ones I have
work very well over the approximately 15 foot radius I use them in.
All the ones that will plug into an MP3 player use the typical 3.5mm
jack and are quite big. Larger than my little MP3 player. A large
portion of that size must be the battery. So I am wondering if it will
work with an MP3 player to power a USB Bluetooth adapter from the MP3
player battery. I know that the battery life will be shortened by at
least half but I can live with that. However, I suspect that the real
reason that USB Bluetooth adapters are so small is because the
computer it plugs into is doing more than sending and recieving data
from the adapter. I suspect that the Bluetooth transmitters that plug
into MP3 players have some sort of encoder that turns the analog audio
from the player into a digital signal that it transmits. Are my
assumptions correct?
Thanks,
Eric

 

[Tom Biasi]

On 7/16/2013 8:11 PM, etpm@whidbey.com wrote:
snip

I suspect that the Bluetooth transmitters that plug
into MP3 players have some sort of encoder that turns the analog audio
from the player into a digital signal that it transmits. Are my
assumptions correct?
Thanks,
Eric

A little more than that. Bluetooth uses a packet based spread spectrum

protocol and frequency hopping.
You should be able to find much info if you are interested.

Tom

 

[Michael Black]

On Tue, 16 Jul 2013, etpm@whidbey.com wrote:

I have this tiny MP3 player made by Sansa that I like a lot. Enough
that I might buy a couple more to replace the one I have now when I
break it. Which I will do inevitably. But it does not have Bluetooth.
So I have been looking at Bluetooth adapters. I can buy very small
adapters that plug into the USB slot on my computer. The ones I have
work very well over the approximately 15 foot radius I use them in.
All the ones that will plug into an MP3 player use the typical 3.5mm
jack and are quite big. Larger than my little MP3 player. A large
portion of that size must be the battery. So I am wondering if it will
work with an MP3 player to power a USB Bluetooth adapter from the MP3
player battery. I know that the battery life will be shortened by at
least half but I can live with that. However, I suspect that the real
reason that USB Bluetooth adapters are so small is because the
computer it plugs into is doing more than sending and recieving data
from the adapter. I suspect that the Bluetooth transmitters that plug
into MP3 players have some sort of encoder that turns the analog audio
from the player into a digital signal that it transmits. Are my
assumptions correct?
Thanks,
Eric

I don't think the MP3 player is designed to feed USB devices.

I have a Sansa Fuze, and I can connect it to my computer via USB. But all
I see is the memory, I can't "talk" to the MP3 player. The same with my
Blackberry Playbook, I can hook it up to my computer via USB, but all I
see is memory, I'm not actually talking to the CPU in the tablet.

I suppose some devices will work with whatever USB device is plugged into
it, but I wouldn't count on anything working like this. They simply
aren't designed to control external USB devices.

The Bluetooth adapters that plug into the headphone jack operate by
themselves, taking the audio and sending it out as a Bluetooth signal.
Since it doesn't rely on a computer to control it, it doesnt' need USB and
specifically a USB device that controls it.

Michael