For most persons, MiniDisc is just one particular of countless media formats that grew to become obsolete when new music went online. Not so for MiniDisc lovers, several of whom however use a MiniDisc deck at dwelling and a MiniDisc Walkman on the go. Unfortunately, significant-conclude headphones these days usually occur with Bluetooth connectivity only, necessitating the use of clunky signal converters that damage the tidy compactness of those transportable players. [Daniel Rojas] cleverly solved this problem by immediately incorporating Bluetooth performance to a Sony MZ-R500 MiniDisc Walkman.
MiniDisc Walkmen are famously compact equipment, so adding a complete circuit board to 1 was not simple. [Daniel] managed to squeeze the PCB from a Schosche wireless audio transmitter within the front of the Walkman, up coming to the regulate buttons. He linked the audio sign to the transmitter’s enter and rewired the tiny-used “End Search” button to turn into the “Pair” button. Regrettably, the recording head and some linked components experienced to be removed in order to make place for the new element, turning the Walkman into a playback-only product.
The project’s GitHub website page is made up of a detailed wander-as a result of of the modification method that really should enable everyone to reproduce the stop end result. [Daniel] didn’t get there at the ideal alternative in 1 go having said that, and he describes the a few main revisions of his challenge in individual sections. In the initial iteration for example, the Bluetooth module triggered interference on the audio sign, which [Daniel] solved by adding isolation transformers in variation two. He also involves a web site entire of technological information and facts he collected all through his venture, which will appear in handy if you ever want to carry out other modifications on your MiniDisc Walkman.
We have observed quite a few outstanding initiatives where Bluetooth interfaces ended up included to pre-Bluetooth gadgets, ranging from tube radios to 8-keep track of players. Some, like the iPod Nano, are even additional room-constrained than a MiniDisc Walkman.