Wireless Music

Using an ESP32 and A2DP Wireless Transfer to Bluetooth Over the years, music has been played on vinyl records, tapes, and CDs, on radios, boomboxes, and smartphones—and now in mp3 format, cast from our phones to ear buds, Alexa, and portable Bluetooth speakers. This month, Jeff uses an ESP32, alternately in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modes, to emulate the musical chimes of a grandfather clock, and sends the music files to a Bluetooth speaker using A2DPStream. He adds a tiny OLED display for visual feedback. Tech Used Alexa ESP32 OLED Rock and Roll originated from African American music, and was derived from or influenced by jazz, rhythm and blues, boogie-woogie, electric blues, gospel, and country music. The genre did not acquire its name until the 1950s. The beat is essentially a dance rhythm with an accentuated back beat, and is usually played with a drum set and one or more electric guitars. American teenagers discovered rock and roll thanks to AM radio and the ability to purchase vinyl records. It demanded volume. Naturally, a parent’s most popular phrase became, “Turn that down!” The 45rpm record became the most popular way to purchase your favorite music. All 45s were monaural. Albums (33rpm) were also monaural. Stereo albums brought on the death of mono in 1968, and a boom to component audio systems. Component audio systems were Hi-Fi (High Fidelity) and expensive. Japan countered with the portable radio and cassette player/recorder. The tape cassette could record music from the radio and you could replay the taped copy any time you wanted. Can you say creative rights? A “boombox” is a transistorized portable music player featuring a combination of one or more cassette tape players/recorders, AM/FM radio, and a CD player. Sound is delivered through an amplifier and two or more integrated loudspeakers. A boombox is typically capable of unusually high volume. Designed for portability, boomboxes were introduced to the Americ