
Here’s the scenario: You have a thousand MP3 music files sitting on your home computer—which is great when you’re actually sitting at your computer but a lot less useful when you’re in the kitchen or living room. What you need is a dedicated device in another room that can pull songs wirelessly from your PC’s music library and play them through its own speakers. Several off-the-shelf products can handle this task, such as Logitech’s Squeezebox; unfortunately, they start at around $300.
But you can build your own remote-control wireless streamer for less than a hundred bucks using just about any old Windows computer (if you don’t have one gathering dust in the closet, ask your office’s IT department or search around on eBay). You can buy or make a custom enclosure that matches the room’s decor and add a small LCD screen to show you what song is playing. Then throw in a wireless remote control, and start streaming your favorite tunes anytime—and anywhere—you want.
Turn the page for instructions and a list of parts.



Comments
hey guys.
Yea yea i know there are the five bars nd this is labelled a 3, but i am a beginner, and i really wanna make this, because this is my scenario. But being a beginner and all, just the look of it looks intimidating, so i need to know if a beginner like myself would be able to do this. And if you think i can, can sumone give me a link with more detailed instructions about this stuff? thanks a bunch!
2l4zy4an4m3
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpfulI don't see a HD in the picture, does it need one, or does it boot to the streamer card?
Can it boot to USB thumb drive?
Can it be on a linux distro?
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpfulI was wondering about the same thing dbeeball was referencing. Does a Hard Disk need to be installed in this thing. How does it boot to windows? Or are you basically running all the programs off of the base PC streaming to the Audio Streamer.
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpfulPopular Science need to do their homework and put more content into these articles. Even PM does a much better job.
A reader since 1959 I often wonder why I keep subscribing to something with so little real content.
2 out of 3 people found this comment helpfulI actually already am using a cheaper solution. I have an old Tungsten pda (hey you got to have a free old computer i get a free old pda) and i got a bluetooth adapter for it and a bluetooth transmitter for the computer. I have speakers around various parts of my house (fairly large house). Then i just plug the pda into the headphones jack and stream using the network and Real Player for Palm OS. Total cost for the bluetooth adapter and transmitter: $130.
Moshable Music
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpfulThe assembly is not as hard as you think. It uses Windows and Winamp so it must be using a hard drive. This is actually a PC with a different case (withhout cdrom or floppy) The kit is small and straight forward with good instructions. Every thing else is USB or serial port excepting the display and the shifter board with are connected together then to the power supply using hookup wires. For the beginner, the attempt will teachh you a thing or two
1 out of 1 people found this comment helpfulThis looks like a great project. But I would really like to take it one step further and control speakers in different rooms independently. Is that at all possible with the project, or would i have to build one of these units to stream music to each set of speakers?
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpfulThis looks like a great project. But I would really like to take it one step further and control speakers in different rooms independently. Is that at all possible with the project, or would i have to build one of these units to stream music to each set of speakers?
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpfulIf you read on, and look at the parts list, you can click the link to the $72 PC, which is another article on PopSci's website that shows you how to build a PC that boots to a USB drive (512 MB, I think). Click here to see it:
http://www.popsci.com/node/2805
That's obviously what they used for this project, even though they don't make it very obvious or clear. The USB drive makes way more sense anyway: lower power consumption and less noise and heat. I saw a 4 GB drive on tigerdirect.com for about $15. Linux is the other "catch" for this to work very well, IMO.
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpfulI was very curious and excited to hunt down Popsci's additional information on the web for this project. It looked like, with some instructions, this could be figured out and built.
Popsci - you earn an absolute ZERO for providing extra information, and you offer only a very brief description of the way the finished project can be used.
You mention NOTHING of software to drive the display, which operating system was chosen, how it all fit onto a usb jump drive, how the display gets information from the mobo, the list goes on and on.
The published article led me to belive that I could get more information on the web. I was looking forward to pulling an old P3 apart and making this happen.
I'm disappointed. I'll grab a squeezebox or some sort of working box to play my music. And I'll be very wary - because I know that there's nothing extra to be found on the web for the How2 projects.
A subscriber since 1969
1 out of 1 people found this comment helpful