Portable Audio Hacks

104 Articles

Convert Your Backpack Into A Boombox

April 7, 2005 by 20 Comments

Boompack

forget dropping $200 on one of those backpacks that allows you to hookup a cdplayer or something similar to blast music around the streets at 2am. you can make one yourself on the cheap! you’ll need an old boombox very similar to the one he has (it’s pretty straightforward) and a backpack you don’t mind tearing up a bit.

“mobius9” gutted the entire boombox, then secured the speakers on plexiglass or something similar and even added a subwoofer he found lying around. it took quite awhile but the result is really cool.

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Rfid Music Player

March 22, 2005 by 14 Comments

sid rfid

don’t take off your tinfoil hats quite yet, but just when you thought rfid tags were all about the man wanting to track you, somebody has come up with a more positive application.

dividuum figured that since some rfid tags can store a kilobyte of data, he should be able to gzip a sid audio file and squeeze it onto one of these larger tags.  he then wrote some software for his pc that interfaces with an rfid reader and will play the sid file contained in a nearby tag.  put a stack of cards next to the reader and it will cycle through them like a playlist.

follow the link if you want to download the source or check out a video of it in action.

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How-to Make A ‘usb Battery’

January 20, 2005 by 186 Comments

usb battery

found out yesterday that there’s a shuffle shortage and gadget battery life can only be expected to get worse.  bummer.  at least you can make the most of your waiting-for-shuffle blues and solder yourself a ‘usb battery’.  this little gizmo runs off a 9 volt battery and supplies your favorite little device with the proper 5 volts of mobile power.

in lieu of running an ipod off of it, i tested it with an mpx220 smartphone and it should work fine with any low power mobile device that can charge via usb cable.  read more for instructions on how to make your own.

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