The popularity of Spotify speaks for itself, but a less known aspect is the latent potential of its API. Back in early March we took a look at Spotify TUI, which lets us use Spotify from a terminal, giving us a classic retro experience. However, we can go one step further with the help of an Amiga 500, a special expansion card, and a Raspberry Pi as the muscle. The result? Spotify on an Amiga 500.
The Amiga 500: A Return to Roots
The Amiga 500 marked a kind of "back to the roots" for Commodore. Debuting in mid-1987 (between April and October depending on the region), the A500 was introduced as a low-cost alternative to the Amiga 2000, and it didn't take long to become the best-selling model of the entire series, especially in Europe. More than three decades later, Amiga 500 fans haven't gone anywhere, achieving things with their systems that would have been impossible in the early years.
Connecting the Amiga 500 to Modern Services
One of the most interesting challenges for any fan is connecting the Amiga 500 to modern services, and that brings us to David Arvidsson's personal project, who after some difficulties managed to connect the classic home computer to Spotify. This requires two components: on one hand, an A314 expansion card, which goes into the available slot inside the Amiga 500, and on the other, a Raspberry Pi connected to the card via GPIO header. In other words, the A314 card serves as a bridge for the Amiga 500 and the Raspberry Pi to communicate using shared memory.
From MP3 to Spotify
After experimenting with MP3 playback, David concluded it would be interesting to inject audio coming from Spotify, and it was his friend David Jensen who sent him a link to Raspotify, a Spotify Connect client compatible with the Raspberry Pi. At first, Arvidsson had problems with the ALSA plugin, but once again his friend came to the rescue recommending the SoX utility. A couple of hours later, and Spotify began to sound through the Amiga 500's Paula chip.
https://old.neoteo.com/amiga-10-000-juegos-amiga-online-gratis/On Arvidsson's official page you'll find a step-by-step tutorial to install Raspotify and SoX along with all its dependencies on the Raspberry Pi, and configure the Amiga 500. The solution is very clean, and doesn't require any major hack on the Amiga 500, thus protecting its original integrity. The hard part is getting the A314 card. A clean DIY PCB costs a little less than 20 euros, but you'll pay more than 100 if you prefer a "plug and play" alternative.
