This retro-looking portable MP3 player you can build yourself

If you miss the physical aspect of playing music, this retro MP3 player is a DIY project with all the steps so that anyone can create it with the help of a 3D printer.

Have you ever used a cassette player? You had to insert the tape and use the play button to hear the music. More or less like now on mobile. The difference was that to go back in the song list you had to “rewind”, i.e. turn the tape backwards. And the same for moving forward.

All of that has been lost, but now you can get it back with DIY Retro Audio Player, an MP3 audio player and audiobooks which works like an old cassette player, but uses digital music stored on a micro SD card.

The best of all is that you can build it yourselfif you follow the detailed instructions of its creator, Max.K, available at Hakaday.io.

The only requirement you need is a 3D printer to print the shell. If you don’t have it, you can order a store to print the part for you.

The player buttons are actually three keys on a keyboard. Has a 2.8-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 320×240 pixelswhich you use to simulate the cassette tape spinning inside the player.

Everything is controlled by a SoC called ESP32, which is similar to an Arduino board. It is very cheap, you can buy for only 11 euros on Amazon.

The design also includes one speaker, and one headphone jack. The software allows you to play any audiobook or digital music file, and save the position where you left off, to continue in the same place next time.

You can see the step by step in this video:

With the buttons it is possible to stop or play the music, and go forward or backward in the list of songs. They are instantaneous jumps, there is no need to wait a few seconds as happened with cassette tapes.

As you can see in the video, it has a compartment with 4 standard AA batteries, what are you offering autonomy of about 20 hours.

If you liked the idea, you have the plans to print on the 3D printer, the list of components, and the necessary software, at the author’s website.