First, I am an absolute beginner to Pi. Although I've been a business programmer for many years in a number of languages, I have little experience with the languages and OS's used with Pi. Also, I don't even have a Pi yet. What I'm trying to assess is whether I can build my project with minimal coding, no compiling, etc. Just function calls in a script would be ideal.
So, here is my project:
An MP3 player with these specs:
All MP3 files are in the root of an attached USB flash drive
2 speakers are attached to the case and need sufficient volume and clarity for a small room
A display is attached to the case
Buttons on the case have the following functions:
--Power on and play the current track at the place the track was last playing; press again to pause; press and hold to shut off
--Jump to next track
--Jump to beginning of current track or, if at beginning, jump to beginning of previous track
--Volume up
--Volume down
--Switch between display of filename or MP3 tags
--Switch display from current track info to list of files on flash drive. List mode will pre-position highlight to current track in the list. Volume up and Volume down buttons would then allow movement through the list and Power button would select and begin playing selected track
Switching the display mode and list mode will keep playing the current track until a new one is selected
Slide switch on case will select play mode: either "play current track to end, then power off", or "play tracks consecutively to end of flash drive then power off".
Device will remember current place in current track upon power down, and will resume playing at this point when device is powered up.
Additional features wanted:
--Jump to next track button will fast forward (with audio) the current track
--Likewise with Jump to previous track button
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If these features were available in a commercial device I would buy it in a heartbeat, as would many Old Time Radio fans. Alas, there is no such animal. One feature in particular, play to end of current track and then power down, is only available in my Sony cd walkmen.
The reason I want such a device is that I'm a huge fan of Old Time Radio, with 16,000 shows. I listen to them every night when I go to bed and shut off the lights. I've been doing this since since about 1990, beginning with audio cassettes. The fact that I often fall asleep during an episode necessitates the "power down at end of current track" feature (a feature, by the way, that all my cassette players had). My Sony walkmen are a good substitute, but are not ideal. I want to build more than one of the new units and offer them to senior centers.
Please advise whether what I want can be created by simply obtaining the hardware and software and putting them together without the need for compiling. If compiling is needed, how high is the learning curve to effectively use the compiler to create this project.
Any help is needed, including partial answers to my questions.
Thanks!