MP3 Player for Museums

[David A. Johnson]

I have a client who needs a system that plays short reasonable quality
audio messages, some containing music, for some museum displays they
are designing. Some systems would be battery powered while others
could be powered from a wall type power adapter. Seldom will the
message be more than three minutes long. Only one speaker would be
needed.

I have looked around but have not yet found an inexpensive solution
for them. I imagine a small circuit board containing an MP3 decoder,
a flash memory card, and an audio amplifier. A liquid crystal display
or a USB port would not be needed. As in many museum displays, a
mechanical pushbutton or an electronic touch switch would activate the
message. Once started, the message would continue to the end, then
wait until the next switch activation, drawing very low standby
current. A removable flash card, containing the MP3 file, would allow
my client to easily change the audio tracks as needed.

Does anyone have some suggestions as who might make such an audio
system?

David A. Johnson, P.E. --- Consulting Engineer
http://www.djandassoc.com
http://www.imagineeringezine.com Home of the Imagineering on-line
magazine.
Also, http://www.discovercircuits.com A collection of over 7,000
schematics.

 

[Mike]

On 19 Nov 2003 09:56:05 -0800, dajpe@aol.com (David A. Johnson) wrote:

I have a client who needs a system that plays short reasonable quality
audio messages, some containing music, for some museum displays they
are designing. Some systems would be battery powered while others
could be powered from a wall type power adapter. Seldom will the
message be more than three minutes long. Only one speaker would be
needed.

I have looked around but have not yet found an inexpensive solution
for them. I imagine a small circuit board containing an MP3 decoder,
a flash memory card, and an audio amplifier. A liquid crystal display
or a USB port would not be needed. As in many museum displays, a
mechanical pushbutton or an electronic touch switch would activate the
message. Once started, the message would continue to the end, then
wait until the next switch activation, drawing very low standby
current. A removable flash card, containing the MP3 file, would allow
my client to easily change the audio tracks as needed.

Does anyone have some suggestions as who might make such an audio
system?

I build a variety of these things for the local museums - see
http://homepages.kcbbs.gen.nz/moby/cfmp3.jpg
for an example, but they tend to be bespoke items as each new gallery
or exhibit has different requirements -
monolingual/bilingual/continuous play/multiple selection (as in the
example units shown) /battery/mains/mounting options etc.
Bear in mind that for speech only applications, sometimes ISD chips
are adequate, and when used ib combination with an appropriate MCU
(I use AVRs) lend themselves well to battery operation.
M
(moby AT kcbbs DOT gen DOT nz)

 

[Gary Tait]

On 19 Nov 2003 09:56:05 -0800, dajpe@aol.com (David A. Johnson) wrote:

I have a client who needs a system that plays short reasonable quality
audio messages, some containing music, for some museum displays they
are designing. Some systems would be battery powered while others
could be powered from a wall type power adapter. Seldom will the
message be more than three minutes long. Only one speaker would be
needed.

I have looked around but have not yet found an inexpensive solution
for them. I imagine a small circuit board containing an MP3 decoder,
a flash memory card, and an audio amplifier. A liquid crystal display
or a USB port would not be needed. As in many museum displays, a
mechanical pushbutton or an electronic touch switch would activate the
message. Once started, the message would continue to the end, then
wait until the next switch activation, drawing very low standby
current. A removable flash card, containing the MP3 file, would allow
my client to easily change the audio tracks as needed.

Does anyone have some suggestions as who might make such an audio
system?

David A. Johnson, P.E. --- Consulting Engineer
http://www.djandassoc.com
http://www.imagineeringezine.com Home of the Imagineering on-line
magazine.
Also, http://www.discovercircuits.com A collection of over 7,000
schematics.

Check out http://www.mp3projects.com/ There are some (proof of concept
anyway) rather simple ones.