UPDATE! CIRCA December 21st 2007:

Hello all!

I've gotten a lot of people asking me how to build an Ambience Enhancer, so when a couple weeks ago I got an email from someone on the staff at Instructables.com saying they like my work and requesting I enter their latest contest, I couldn't resist the opportunity.

I doubt I will win, but if I do... I could win a computer controlled laser cutter! Can you imagine the cool junk I could make with that thing!? Believe me, I have ideas...

So anyways, please spread the word and vote for my project, because I would really love to win this contest!

[link]

thanks!
Molly


now, here is the original text:

Step right up folks! Witness the latest and greatest that the glory of modern technology can possibly offer to you at this particular moment of time and space!

The Ambience Enhancer

This handy little device can take the most boring and dull locale and turn it into whatever sort of emotive resonance you prefer! You simply load it with "Wave Files" or their less complicated cousins the "Musical Programme Type Threes (or "MP3" for those who enjoy abbreviations) and then activate the device to change the ambience around you! Astounding!

Okay, here's the real story behind this one:

I bought a pair of vintage Cannonball Empire headphones off Ebay and I disassembled and gutted them. I then transplanted the working parts of a Sony MDR-006 (that I randomly found on the ground at a bus stop 2 days ago!) into them, and voila! Cool looking 'old' headphones that work just fine with my MP3 player ^ _ ^

figuring out how to get the speakers into the Cannonballs was not easy. I actually ruined the prototype trying to do it in an overly fancy way with a different pair of sony headphones.

So then I decided I needed some way to get my MP3 player to match my steampunk influenced retrofuturistic daily wear.

First I hand sewed a little cover for the MP3 player and attached the brown leather protection pad to it. Then I took a raw sheet of Brass and cut out the form, bending it into shape carefully and adding the lynch pins and strapping last. I wanted to be able to wear this on my jacket as well, so I created a little latch on the left arm of my jacket so it can be put on and off easily.

Voila! Retrofuture goodness... ^ _ ^