Has this been invented yet?

I was going to do a post about this, but I figured I make it a blog instead. It's been months since I done one so why not? :ninja:

Lately I been thinking about buying a new clock. I have this clock I got when I graduated from public school from the 6th grade. It was a gift from my mom, but that was well over some years ago. Is a pretty nice clock, has FM/AM radio stations and plays CD music. But most of its functions don't work anymore, it's a struggle to even program the alarm clock cause the amount of force needed to press the button and make it work. :(

What does this have to do with the title of this blog? Well that's what I'm about to get into now. This blog is just simple questions or ideas of stuff that I want but don't know if it exist yet or least close to something like it. So feel free to notify me if what I ask actually does exist. :)

Basically I want a new clock. I want a clock that has AM/FM radio, and could play MP3 or CD. (Yes people still use CD I think, Deluxe game packages have them with the game's soundtrack on them) It would be cool if this clock can encode CD and even copy it to a memory card or some kind of internal storage. Also bluetooth, cause why not. Bluetooth for your headphones or speaker or PC.

So what do you think? Has it been invented yet or not? Does it sound cool? Personally I do, as much as I know it can exist with current technology. I know people may not use CD as much today, but my laptop doesn't even have a cd drive, and I do have CD i would listen to. Anytime I want to listen to them, I have to use my playstation 3 (Thankfully it still works in 2019) I can encode it to MP3 and save it on the HDD or copy it to a memory card to use on other things.

I don't know how many people use Digital Clocks today. Probably most people use their smartphone, as a alarm or for music and radio. Still I think it would be nice to have. :)

Comments

A solution in the meantime is to crack your cds on your PC, put the files in a network drive and use the GoodReader app to copy them to your iPhone or iPod, and plug that into a traditional clock radio dock (which are pretty cheap, and there's a big selection to choose from). You can then use Bluetooth headphones (I think - unless having it plugged into a dock prevents them working?)
 
An iPhone, and I’m pretty sure many other phones too, can have songs set as the alarm sound.

Found this Digital Alarm Clock with Wireless Bluetooth Speaker, Snooze, Dual Port USB Charger, FM Radio, Thermometer, LED Dimmer Display for Heavy Sleepers, Bedrooms, Kitchen, Table, Backup Battery whew https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D36XHS7/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_5g52Cb1K078ZV
 
If an iPhone can use any song as an alarm, then why does everyone keep it on the same basic-bitch default alarm sound?
 
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Best case scenario is to use an external CD drive to rip your CDs into MP3 or desired extension and use your mobile.

Alternatively, you can do just about anything with a Raspberry Pi with enough know-how.
 
You should try the Lenovo Smart Clock, then. It's a bedside touchscreen clock with Google Assistant, so you can play radio stations on it and cast music to it from a PC or smart device (as well as do all the other cool stuff Google Assistant is capable of).
It hasn't launched yet, but it should launch soon and I'm planning to get one as well.
 
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Any old Android device with FM radio would do that and a whole lot more.

For example my old HTC Desire from 2010:

  • FM Radio
  • MP3
  • Memory Card
  • Bluetooth
  • Headphone Jack

You could even get a dock for it so the screen can be on 24/7 showing the clock and other bits of info.

To be honest even a much older phone such as the Ngage from 2003 would hit all your criteria.

As for CD's a USB CD drive costs £10, certainly handy to have one around as you never know when you might need to randomly use a CD.
 
What you're after was invented back in the 80's (albeit minus bluetooth, which didn't come along for another 20 years).
In fact, a quick google of "cd radio alarm clock" shows many results for current products; some with digital radio as well as FM, and I'm sure some will also have bluetooth.
 
Everything on that sans CD player is trivial. Could walk into town and get as many of those as I like from 40 different manufacturers, though around here it would probably be a digital radio too.

With CD, and CD ripping functionality too... harder. Standalone CD rippers are and always were a bit thin on the ground as well. That probably will have to be the domain of some custom setup with a raspberry pi or similar and a , or for you to kick an old laptop into such a condition. Though that would probably also mean finding a laptop with a CD player which itself could be tricky.
 
@Jayro I think because a LOT of people have an iPhone because iPhone is pretty.
A friend of mine had “Hells Bells” (AC/DC) as his alarm. Best alarm sound ever.
 
I think your best bet is to hunt for a CD player with an alarm clock function at Craigslist or something. Finding one with Bluetooth will be hard, probably. Alternatively, there's external DVD drives that are compatible with Android. Hook one up with an old phone and bam
 
I modded my old 'ghetto blaster' to have bluetooth audio & be able to play mp3, You can buy little bluetooth boards with usb/mp3 functionality from ebay for a few pounds. Then you only need to solder it to the audio/amp chip - it's pretty easy to do.

If you want to play audio over bluetooth - just write a blank cd with a blank audio track and then play that (so the chip audio output is active) - connect to the bluetooth and then play away. You can convert any other stereo/radio/audio player or just even an amp to do this - it's very simple.

If that's not in your skill level - you can already buy radios with clocks that will play pretty much anything, cd/mp3/bluetooth etc. But why bother? - just get yourself a Google Home speaker and use your mobile phone to cast audio, mobile phones can play everything and have a clock, bluetooth, casting etc, and no need to worry about inventing anything.
 

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