Micronas introduces modular MP3 application board (0002)

Especially suitable for low-power designs

February 2000 - Micronas has introduced the application board for its next generation MP3 decoder, the MAS 3509F. The modular board is built to also support the previous generations of Micronas MP3 decoders, enabling users of the previous designs to easily switch to the next generation MP3 chip family.

The application board has been developed in cooperation with Iomega, SanDisk, and IBM and supports systems that operate with SanDisk's CompactFlash, IBM's Microdrive (340 MB storage capacity), and Iomega's Smart Media Card, MultiMedia Card and Clik!.

Micronas' application board also supports the Secure Digital Card of the Secure Digital Card Association (SDA), founded by Matsushita, SanDisk, and Toshiba. Micronas has been a member of the SDA since the beginning of this year.

To enable the development of low power systems, the board is capable of running on either a conventional power source or a single battery, in which case the board functions independently of the external power source.

The software to control memory and file management offered by Micronas will be written entirely in the programming language C, which can therefore also be used with other microcontrollers.

In addition to being used in MP3 playing devices, Micronas' previous generation MP3 decoders (MAS 3507D) are also used in various reference designs together with a Micronas D/A converter. These reference designs include: Tokyo Electron Device's "Guppy", a single-chip USB memory controller; Patelic & Kurpiers' "Oscar", an MP3-CD/HDD Player; Microchip's Controller PIC16C74B; Oki (both microcontroller, USB controller, and LCD driver); Trumpion (microcontroller with memory interface and USB); Xilinx CoolRunner CPLD. Each of these reference designs can easily be adjusted to run with the new generation MP3 decoder, the MAS 3509F.