Features High Quality MP3 Playback MP3Public works perfectly with 128Kbit/sec streams, and the hard drive version has been tested with higher bitrates as well as VBR encoding, with no problems whatsoever. Volume, Treble and Bass are all digitally adjustable. The player can be constructed with both line and headphone outputs. CD/HD Support MP3Public works with both ATAPI CD-ROM drives, and IDE hard drives. Both 2.5" (laptop) and 3.5" (PC) drives will work just fine. When using a hard drive, the player utilises a custom filesystem to store an entire CD collection, organised by album - think of a CD jukebox that can store several hundered CDs in a tiny box. LCD Display The player incorporates a 20x2 character LCD display. This is used for navigating the available albums/tracks, as well as displaying the currently playing track title. Upgradeable Firmware Now that we're using the PIC16F877 uC, the firmware can be upgraded via the parallel port interface without having to remove/reprogram the microcontroller. Look out for new firmware updates which will add improved functionality! The following features are applicable in hard-drive mode only. Parallel Port MP3 Transfer When used in hard-drive mode, the player can be attached to a PC using a standard (non-laplink) parallel port cable. Using the supplied download software, MP3's can be transferred to the player by simply dragging and dropping. Download speeds vary from around 150KB/sec to 300KB/sec depending on whether EPP mode is supported. ID3 information is automatically detected, and can be edited before transfer to the player. Infra-Red Remote Control (Hope to eventually support this in CD mode too!) A suitable Sony-compatible remote can be used to control the player, providing a much easier interface than using the buttons on the front of the player. The player can be "trained" to assign different buttons to appropriate operations. Direct-IDE MP3 Downloads (coming soon) Although it only takes about 10 seconds to download a song when using the parallel port, if you're transferring several gigabytes of MP3 data, the whole process can take a very long time. Since the player uses its own custom HD filesystem (optimised for the PIC microcontroller), you can't just create a FAT32 partition and copy files across. However, a new version of the PC software (currently under development) will permit you to install the player's hard-drive in your desktop PC, and write MP3 information directly to it using the same tools that you would normall use for downloading via the parallel port. Great for getting your player ready for use! Linux support (coming soon) The current PC software is Win95/98 only, however work is underway on a cross-platform library for transferring data to the player. This library builds under Windows and Linux, enabling developers on either platform to write MP3 transfer applications.