Retro Song Bird Turns Game Boy Cartridges Into a Music Player
A builder known as BJ has made the Retro Song Bird, a media player that plays the music and sound effects stored on Game Boy cartridges rather than the games themselves. Only a few prototypes exist so far.
The device resembles hardware such as Epilogue's GB Operator, with a slot on top for Game Boy cartridges, but it is not built for playing retro games. It is a featureless box with a basic set of onboard controls for skipping tracks and adjusting the volume of its built-in speaker. The Verge describes it as a reimagined Sony Walkman that trades cassette tapes for childhood game cartridges.
The Retro Song Bird carries additional functions beyond playback. Its built-in speaker reproduces the tunes close to how they sounded through the original Game Boy, and a stereo line out connection allows it to be hooked up to better speakers or used for recording and sampling. Each of the Game Boy's four sound channels is available as a separate USB audio stream. The device can also back up ROMs and save game data, or export music files as WAV files to a PC.
According to Retro Dodo, only a few prototypes of the Retro Song Bird have been produced so far and they are not for sale. BJ plans to potentially crowdfund the music player or sell it directly once its hardware and design are finalized.