building an MP3 boombox - part one

I lucked into an inexpensive MP3 player, not so long ago ... a 5GB Archos Jukebox. I was glancing through my email when it caught my eye: outpost.com was dumping 5GB Jukeboxes at roughly eighty bucks a pop.

I've held back on an MP3 player purchase, as I didn't want to fork over a C note for a wimpy 128MB player. And I just couldn't justify spending three hundred for an Apple iPod (even though I really really really want one). So when I saw the Archos going for just eighty smackaroons, I had to go for it.

The Archos arrives and no sooner do I become bored with the idea of merely using it with headphones. I wanted to use it in the car (a problem easily solved with a SoundFeeder 100) and I wanted to use it as the basis for boom box (a problem which was not so easily solved).

Two seperate trips to two separate Best Buy stores yielded a pair of Sony portable powered speakers and the SoundFeeder. The (under $20)SoundFeeder worked well--sending the Jukebox's output through the FM band to the car's receiver. The little $20 Sony speakers, however, were feeble-sounding battery hogs.

A friend of mine suggested that I look for a pair of powered Yamaha speakers.

Lucky for me, I had a set of Yamaha speakers sitting around the studio, collecting dust. I plugged the Archos into the dusty old Yamaha speakers and was rewarded with fabulous sound.

But I wasn't content with a solution that only plugged into the wall socket. I wanted something to take to soccer practice ... and that's where the challenge came in ... I needed a portable power source ...