A Radio Link to the Past
Recently, I set up an Internet Radio Station featuring music from Archive.Org’s Great 78 project. While putting that together, it occured to me that a few of my relatives would absolutely adore a way to experience this music, but the quirks of media streaming seem to have left most of them behind. So, for the Holidays this year, I decided to make some Radios. Well, not Radios, but something Radio adjacent. A little box that endlessly loops through 5000+ songs from Archive.org’s Great 78 Project, while being simple enough for even the least technologically inclined members of my family to figure it out.
I just finished the first one, built around this little hickydoo from Amazon which has a MicroSD card slot. It sounds pretty great, and is easy enough to use that I feel comfortable giving these to the grandparents. Plus, it’s got that neat 60s Braun\early 00s Apple industrial design to it, which makes it really feel like an artifact of a bygone era.
The one I recieved is a little different from the picture. (Mine has gold trim instead of silver. It does not say YouMoon on the top, but does in the small blank section at the bottom-middle of the faceplate.) Otherwise, it’s as pictured. I’m pleased with it, and I’m about to order 4 or 5 more.
Pros:
- Cheap
- Easy to set up (just load the files on the microSD card)
- Does not hum while it’s being charged (a surprisingly common problem among devices of this nature)
- Sound pretty good, especially considering the price and size
Cons:
- Does not support shuffle
- Pressing the volume buttons acts as next/previous track. Holding the volume buttons adjusts the volume. This might be confusing to the targeted audience
- Plays the songs in the order they were coppied on to the SD Card, with no way to modify this behavior
- A little smaller than I’d like
Remaining Questions:
- Does it support playlists? If it does, I can include three or four playlist files at the beginning of the SD Card with all of the files shuffles there.
- Will it work reliably for many months? We’ll find out, I’m sure.
- Will anyone actually use it? I hope so, but we’ll find out next weekend!
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