Ghettoblaster MP3 player installation

Step 7 Reroute side buttons to the front of the Boombox

Time to void the warranty on the MP3 player... Carefully figure out how to open the case of the MP3 player. Usually carefully twisting the player will get it to split open. Determine where the fasteners are in the case and carefully unsnap them. Prying on the edges of the split will chew up the side (not that anyone will see the sides) you may possibly slip and damage the inside of the MP3 player or slip out and slice your hand. Some how I managed to avoid damaging anything.

Now with a micro-tip on your soldering iron and use extreme precision to solder your button wires to the solderpoints inside the MP3 player. If you splash any solder or overheat the components you will soon be chucking your MP3 player in the trash or scrapping it out for parts. I experimented on a $11 MP3 player that I burned up prior to this step when working on the whole charger set up.

The best place to thread the wires is through one of the openings for side buttons you displaced in this installation.

Make sure you seal up the MP3 player again for added protection before you finish installing it into the deck.

By the way...the MP3 player is precisely lined up and hot glued into the cassette carriage.

Comments

[icanhaszombie]

 What if you retained the open/close functionality of the tape door and simply used a cabled connector on the inside? That way you could simply open the door and take the player out to access the buttons, and slide it back in and close the door. If theft is an issue a simple tab-style lock could be installed to keep the door closed unless you want it open

[Kepster]

I'm sure you might be able to covert the cassette deck into a dock with a smaller MP3 but the Zen is too large and the ports are on several sides.  You would have to custom an additional port for the MP3 controls.

My most recent thoughts are to forget about replacing the cassette deck and just mount a simple MP3 player on the top or side of the boombox.

[samuraiclinton]

I better idea would be to make a docking station for the Zen instead of integrate it with warranty-voiding modification.

[Kepster]

The reason I decided against any type of docking station is because if you happen to be in the wrong company for less than even a minute your little mp3 player is gone for good...victim to a five finger discount and a quick slip into a pocket.  A permanent solution is by far the best.