Add MP3 (limited) to your stereo on the cheap

this isn't much of an instructable, as the components can be purchased and combined, but i don't know how often people have done it before. I'm using a Mattel Juice Box as the mp3 player for my stereo system.

The Juice Box may still retail at $50, but kb toys and amazon often have the full media kit (juicebox + mmc adapter) for $15 or less.

Step 1 Gather Materials

Here are the necessary materials:

1) Mattel Juicebox Media Kit (or juicebox modded to add mmc slot as seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenbristol/sets/537129/ mine was 9.99 at kb toys with the media kit (the white box))
2) 350mA 4.5v ac adapter with the correct tip (i used a unit by Coby that cost $3 at Ocean State Job Lots)
3) stereo miniplug to dual rca adapter cable (dollar tree toted these for ipod at, you guessed it, $1)

Comments

[Charlesh]

Is there a way to use a USB extension cord (http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/images/usb-extension.jpg) so I could use a jump drive?

[stone3408]

Keep in mind that the juice box only plays Mp3s that are ripped at a certain compression if you want to drag and drop them on the card. I think its 128 and lower but I'm not sure.

[gschoppe]

!28kbps or lower at 44100Hz... I'm currently working on an instructable on converting Rhapsody files

[Punkguyta]

Ahh, good old windowblinds. I haven't used that for some time. I thought maybe you were using an acutal msstyles file like you can with the media center skin.

[Punkguyta]

You could buy a 2gb mp3 player and a stereo cable for less than this. This is a little kids toy, not a full blown mp3 player. Otherwise, the instructable was good and easy to go through. Btw, what theme is that you got for windows xp?

[gschoppe]

really? all that for $15? I'd love to get one if you've got a link.

The plusses with this setup include:

1) large screen displaying id3 info
2) good design for leaving attached... e.g. it stands at a nice viewing angle and can be controlled without moving it.
3) removable memory, so you can easily load it without moving it
4) I already had one that I was attempting another hack with

anywho, I just saw it as a good re-purposing of the hardware

oh, and BTW, the I'm running WindowBlinds 5 with a skin called "Longhorn Slate 4051"

I've got a screenshot of my current config at:
http://www.gschoppe.com/tempfiles/screenshot.png