I am looking to build a small music box for my niece for the holidays. I already have most of the components I am looking for. However, I am stuck on a way to convert play the MP3 sound. I have seen the example created by Make, taking the cheaper MP3 and just using it as player, but I was hoping to get something a little more different.
Basically I just need it to play 1 or 2 songs, so the memory does not need to be large. I also have a lever switch so circuit will power when box is opened, therefore I need one that will be constantly on and always play when the switch is activated.
I am trying to stay on the lower end side of expenses, so would it be wise to just find the cheap MP3 player and gut it? (I do not need the USB connectors once the music is loaded like it was done in the Make example) or can I find an MP3 decoder chip easily and build it easily?
Building an MP3 player yourself will be neither cheap nor easy. If nothing else, you're working against the economy of scale; to buy one each of all the components required is very likely to cost you many, many times more than a cheap, fully-assembled player. Getting just an MP3 decoder chip would be like getting the engine for a car; there's a lot more that needs to be added in order to get it to do anything at all.
Hacking a cheap MP3 player is definitely the way to go. There are a bunch on ebay for as little as $2.50 with free shipping.