A programmable DSP solution to a solid state audio player

Portable solid-state audio players are currently reaching consumers through the advent of new audio compression algorithms and non-volatile flash memory technology. This paper presents a low-power, software programmable portable audio system utilizing these technologies. The system is designed to play music and other types of audio media stored on a flash memory card. This card can hold up to an hour´s worth of material, with quality approaching that of a compact disc (CD). The flash memory cards provide much better audio quality than that of a cassette tape, yet remain smaller and much more resistant to vibration and motion. Audio material is obtained through licensed distributors, via the Internet, or through media kiosks set up in retail outlets. All audio decoding, equalization, volume control, sample rate conversion and digital watermarking algorithms are handled by a 16-bit, fixed point digital signal processor (DSP). Software upgradeability allows multiple decoding algorithms, decryption methods and other features, such as equalizers, to run easily. System performance characteristics are also presented