Hacker turns cassette player into Spotify streamer

The $35 Raspberry Pi is the low-end computing system that launched a thousand projects, including a beet-powered Beetbox and this Spotify-compatible cassette player. CNET writes that Matt Brailsford’s nostalgic masterpiece was inspired by the iRecorder, which is an iPhone speaker shaped like the old-fashioned tape machine. In an interview with CNET, Brailsford explains that the Raspberry Pi used in his device runs a version of MusicBox, and a custom module for identifying input and reading NFC tags.

Remember what it felt like to press play and record at the same time? Back before streaming and downloading and blogs and YouTube, music meant CDs and Smash Hits and the NME and taping off the radio — and this delightfully retro Raspberry Pi creation recreates that physical connection with music for the 21st century. Raspberry Pi is the low-cost computing system that allows you to build all kinds of bespoke gadgets from basic components, teaching novices how to code and limited only by your imagination. British developer and maker Matt Brailsford has used the DIY system to combine the technology of today — Raspberry Pi, Spotify, and NFC tags — with the retro tech of yesterday to build a media server that streams different playlists when different cassette tapes are inserted.