Something that has fascinated me is the idea that there are programs like the one I featured in this article: Songo#5. These programs turn the retro handhelds into portable, nicely made and tiny digital audio players.
I like the idea that it could give older retro handhelds new life. This program is installed via PortMaster, and it works a dream for a relatively new project on the scene!
Anyway, I briefly cover what it is, and what it does, but the point of this article I did was getting in touch with Riley, who is the developer of Songo. He covers what music means to him, how it influenced his program, and the general how and why he came to making this:
Personally, I like the idea that in some vague way there’s a tiny chance it could reduce some of the waste that I’m sure comes into play with these cheaper handhelds released constantly.
ANYWAY, I hope you enjoy this one. I really enjoyed putting the interview together!
Out of all the artists/bands, your image has Tessa Violet. Which is insane to me, because I can remember watching her like 15 years ago on a show called =3 with Ray William Johnson. Which was essentially a comedy show that brought you 3 viral videos, and then RWJ would try to be funny over them. Nobody watched =3 for RWJ, and nobody watched Americas Funniest Home Videos for Bob Sagat. We watched both shows for the same reason. To watch idiots get hit in the nuts.
Then one episode, a 15 year old Tessa Violet, then known as Meekakitty, shows up and starts the episode by saying “Betcha didn’t think you’d see ME here!”
And I’m like “BITCH I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!”
But then RWJ tried making music, and she was in his videos. Then she started making music. And I never heard from either of them again because both of their music is terrible.
Tessa is like accoustic guitars, and whiney crying lyrics. And RWJ, despite being close to 25 at the time wrote novelty comedy songs all based around the idea of having sex with your mom. As if written for an exclusively 14 year old boy audience.
Now I see this, and I’m like “eh? She’s STILL making music???”
What a roller coaster, especially because I have no idea who these people are.
Crush, the Tessa Violet song shown, was released in 2018 and has very little acoustic guitar or whiney crying lyrics. It’s an electronic pop song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiAuAJBZuGs
Her first album though, lots of acoustic guitar and sadness.
You got me with the NOFX track… I’m here for it
That’s all Riley right there!
Especially that one, it’s a real banger. Whole album is fantastic.
One of their best for sure
Wolves in Wolves clothing is their best imo. mike actually said so at the first show of the final tour in barcelona (I was there). he said “people thing punk in drublic is our best album but its really [wolves]”
Yeah I agree actually. I knew it the first time I heard wolves. The song wolves in wolves clothing is amazing.
I would love to get an audio player on my old Powkiddy V90. It sucks as a gaming handheld. But it’s small, has a headphone jack, and a physical volume wheel. That would be awesome.
I was toying with the idea of turning my retro portable into a music player and then this comes along. Thanks, OP.
Then this is perfect timing!
I was rocking my DSlite with a flash card back in 2009, used it as my mp3 player, ebook reader, and of course games.
I still rocked it yesterday. It’s a great little MP3 player. I take it rustic camping because the battery life is so good.
The picture with the red gamjng handheld shows a TRIMUI Brick Hammer, right?
I’m so looking forward to receiving mine and installing Songo#5 on it 😊No, its just the Brick, not the metal Hammer version!
So, almost the same, but your version of is has some improvements (and a nice metal body!). You’re going to love it when it arrives!
🤗
Similarly they ported Rockbox to the RG Nano and even sort of to the Nintendo 3DS.
I mean they‘re little Android devices so I expect them to pull that off. Most of them can comfortably run games like Hollow Knight or N64 roms.
No, these are Linux, not Android
That‘s rare for small handhelds but it doesn‘t really change anything.
It changes the way to build software for them and the (size of) the target audience a lot.
We‘re talking about running MP3s on them, you know? Something that has been done on much smaller devices for well over 20 years.
We’re talking about Nintendo Gameboy games on then, you know?
Something that has been done on slightly bigger devices for well over 30 years.Oh, I do have an ancient mp3 player the size of a lighter. But I rarely use it anymore.
Yet I see myself using Songo#5 on this device. So I do appreciate the effort to provide this software for this kind of niche hardware.
