Party Like It's 1999

In the late 1990s, computing technology was going mainstream like never before. Personal computers, which had largely been toys for hobbyists before this time, now sat in a prominent position in nearly everyone’s home. These big beige boxes were used to play Doom, which took the world by storm, or browse the early (and often very weird) internet — perhaps to see what one’s friends were up to on MySpace. But when Friday night rolled around, people everywhere put on their best flannels, chokers, Doc Martens, and chain wallets before checking in with their buddies on AOL Instant Messenger to find out where the party was.

And unless the party was totally lame, there was a makeshift DJ mixing the tunes on Winamp with a trippy visualization plugin running. Those days, and the exciting possibilities swirling around these emerging technologies, are now long gone. But computer engineer Rodmg is not going to let those days slip away so easily. Inspired by both Winamp and vintage stereo systems, Rodmg decided to make a physical Winamp music player for the modern age. Called Linamp, this device brings '90s charm back to your home to keep the party going.

Playing an MP3 audio file is not exactly rocket science these days, so the Linamp build is mostly about the case. To get it just right, Rodmg first took measurements from an old AIWA stereo case to reproduce the style faithfully. Most people would probably then 3D print a case, but these prints rarely have the polish of a commercial device, so in this case, sheet metal was used. The parts were designed with Onshape, then they were manufactured from one millimeter thick black anodized aluminum by PCBWay.

The front faceplate, and also the back panel, were 3D-printed in nylon for a high-quality appearance. A few ports were added for USB, Ethernet, and headphones, as well as a large, silver power button. That completed the case design, so Rodmg was ready to add in the electronics.

As previously noted, building an MP3 player is pretty simple these days, so the case is mostly empty. There is a Raspberry Pi 4 and a 7.9-inch extra-wide display attached to it via HDMI. The display was fitted into the case such that it is visible through the front and takes up most of the surface area.

In order to complete the build, it needed to actually look like the classic Winamp application. So, Rodmg developed a custom application in Qt 6 that looks just like the old Winamp interface. Even the proportions of the buttons were carefully considered to make everything look just right. When everything was put together and powered up … let’s just say that Linamp really did some serious llama whipping (if you know, you know).

Be sure to check out the full project write-up for all the details on this beautiful build. With any luck, Rodmg might consider crowdfunding the production of these Linamp players. I’d really like to get my hands on one, but am not sure I want to go through the pains of building it.