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My own Standalone Audio Player

This project born from a basic request. Remove unaesthetic cd-towers from livingroom but at the same time maintain high quality music listening experience. Solution is to build a standalone music server, with a touchscreen.

The system is basically a mini-pc based on a Via Epia motherboard with an 800Mhz processor, 256Mb RAM, 250Gb hard disk.  

However the original processor fan is too loudly. I have replaced it with a standard 80mm fan fixed on the cabinet. Velocity is regolated via a 100ohm 1/4w trimmer. Fan is now practically inaudible.

Motherboard's audio capability is really poor compared to, for example, a standalone hi-fi cd player. Also the SPDIF audio output is a nightmare! A straightforward solution is an USB-DAC. Actually I use the DDDAC 1543 MK2.

Audio quality is my requirement and then FLAC lossless codec is my ripping choice. There are plenty of media player software in the world but only a few can confortably adapt to a 8" touchscreen. foobar2000 seems to be a valid solution. It's minimal and very fast and it is possible to build the user interface entirely.  But honestly I'm not a valid graphical interface designer and the result is not so inviting expecially for people not informatically trained. 

Google...google...give me the best solution!  

Et voilà: AlbumPlayer. This software play FLAC files natively and have a touchscreen interface well suited for an 8" monitor. Album selection is really simple: a click on the cd cover image. 

Last update: 19/09/2006 - SimCap - www.simonecapretti.eu