A DSP powered solid state audio system

New audio compression algorithms and non-volatile flash memory technology have enabled the creation of portable solid-state personal audio players. This paper presents a low-power portable audio system based on the Texas Instruments TMS320C5000 DSP family. This system is designed to play music and other audio media stored on flash memory cards that can hold over an hour of CD quality music. The flash card provides higher audio quality than a cassette tape, yet is smaller and more durable than a CD. The music or audio material downloaded to the flash is obtained from licensed distributors, either through the Internet or through kiosks setup in retail outlets. All the audio decoding and watermarking required by this system is handled by the TMS320C5000 DSP. System performance characteristics are also presented.