These days, the personal MP3 player has been largely replaced by the the smartphone. However, [Justinas Petkauskas] still appreciates the iPod for its tactility and portability, and wanted to bring that vibe back. Enter JPL.mp3
The build is based around the ESP32-S3 microcontroller. It’s hooked up with a PCM5102 DAC hooked up over I2S to provide quality audio, along with a micro SD card interface for music storage, and a small IPS LCD. The best feature, though? The mechanical click-wheel which provides a very tactile way to scroll and interact with the user interface. Everything is assembled into a neat 3D printed case, with a custom four-layer PCB lacing all the electronics together.
On the software side, [Justinas] cooked up some custom software for organizing music on the device using a SQLite database. As he primarily listens to classical music, the software features fields for composer/piece and conductor, orchestra, or performer.
[Justinas] calls the final build “chunky, but nevertheless functional” and notes it is “vaguely reminiscent of classic iPods.” We can definitely see the fun in building your own personalized version of a much-enjoyed commercial product, for sure. Meanwhile, if you’re cooking up your own similar hardware, we’d certainly love to hear about it.
Looks like a great project. I miss the iPod sometimes. Phone interfaces can be a chore for playing music. I’m sure many younger people think that’s ridiculous, maybe some people my age too.
I didn’t realize sqlite ran on embedded.
Reminds me more of a ZUNE player.
i’m no Apple loyalist, but if one was going to emulate the iPod, the first thing to copy is its interface. the straight List to dive in and out of categories was perfection, without any graphics or animation. it just worked. looks like this one has some kind of faux dial / vinyl record halfway through it? how will that manage longer song titles? it reminds me of something I’d see on a laggy SanDisk player or a car UI.
The Tangara looks more polished, but is still fully open source and rebuild-friendly:
https://www.crowdsupply.com/cool-tech-zone/tangara
https://sr.ht/~jacqueline/tangara/
So that would be the go-to project for me if I wanted to rebuild something like this.