2000s Romanian Pop Music Player
A coin-operated music player that plays Romanian pop hits from the 2000s and displays track metadata on an OLED screen.
Author: Maria-Elena Tudor
GitHub Project Link: https://github.com/UPB-PMRust-Students/proiect-mariacthi
Description
This project combines the nostalgic feel of classic jukeboxes with a curated playlist of Romanian pop music from the 2000s. Users insert a coin to unlock playback; track information (title, artist, duration, release year) is shown on an OLED display. Physical buttons allow play/pause, previous/next, shuffle, and volume control.
Motivation
At every party I attend, Romanian hits from the 2000s always come on—and I love that era’s pop sound. I’ve also always been fascinated by the jukeboxes featured in movies. Merging these two ideas into a single device seemed like a fun, tangible way to share my favorite decade of music with friends.
Architecture
Microcontroller Raspberry Pi Pico 2W runs embedded Rust firmware, coordinating all peripherals.
- Tasks:
- Handles peripheral I/O (SPI, I²C, GPIO, PWM)
- Manages shuffle queue and metadata parsing
- Debounces buttons & validates coin input
OLED Display shows metadata over I2C (song title, artist name, duration).
Tactile Buttons read GPIO inputs for user controls.
Coin Validator Sensor detects insertion of a valid coin/token and signals the microcontroller to unlock playback for one track.
Audio Amplifier + Speaker decodes MP3 through I2S and drives speaker via PWM.
SD Card Module stores MP3 files; accessed over SPI.
Log
Week 5 - 11 May
Week 12 - 18 May
Week 19 - 25 May
Hardware
The entire system is built around a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W running embedded Rust, which reads MP3 files off a microSD card, drives a compact SSD1306 OLED screen for track info, and monitors both tactile buttons and a coin‐validator sensor for user input. Audio is streamed digitally to an amplifier and speaker, while everything is powered from a single regulated 5 V source and prototyped on a breadboard for easy iteration.
Schematics
Bill of Materials
| Device | Usage | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi Pico 2W | The microcontroller | 39.66 RON |
| Raspberry Pi Pico 2W | Debug | 39.66 RON |
| Display OLED 128x64 - 0.96" SPI | User interface display | 23.29 RON |
| MicroSD Card Module | Storage for MP3 files | 7.14 RON |
| Card MicroSD 32Gb - clasa 10 | Memory Card | 42.89 RON |
| Amplificator 3W I2S - MAX98357A | Audio output | 17.03 RON |
| Difuzor 50mm - 2W - 32ohm | Audio output device | 4.82 RON |
| Modul senzor Ultrasonic - detector distanta HC-SR04 | Coin sensor | 9.75 RON |
| Electronic components: buttons, wires, pins and Breadboard | Electronic Components | 80 RON |
Software
| Library | Description | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| embassy | Async executor and HAL integration for embedded | Provides task scheduling, timers, and async support |
| embedded-hal | Hardware Abstraction Layer for embedded Rust | Unifies SPI, I2C, GPIO and PWM drivers |
| display-interface | Generic display API | Abstracts over SSD1306 driver for easy text & graphics |
| ssd1306 | SSD1306 OLED display driver | Initializes display, draws frames, and manages framebuffer |
| rand | Random number generation | Implements shuffle logic for playback queue |
| minimp3 | Pure-Rust MP3 decoder | Parses MP3 frames and outputs PCM samples |