The PANIC button saves you from bad music

Having a communal music collection being played on random can be really fun. You experience new music and get to hear old favorites. However, not everyone shares the same taste. Sometimes, you absolutely need to just skip the song coming on, for the sake of everyone involved. That was how the Panic button was born.

Starting with a joke panic button that would play an alarm sound, they promptly tore the guts out.  They inserted a minimus board, which has an AT90USB162 its brain, and includes onboard USB hardware.  When you slap the panic button, it emulates the key press that goes to the next track, thereby saving everyone from whatever monstrosity was threatening their ear drums.

Comments

  1. Jmicz says:

    YES! I need one of these.

  2. santeri says:

    where is this site that plays music randomly?

  3. Max says:

    Simple solution: Solder an Buzzer with XLR Cable to the Keyboard Shortcut. Fast and easy, both still work after five years in our location. And the Buzzer is kinda “waterproof”.

  4. baz says:

    niice.

    great idea!

  5. Anonymous says:

    DON’T PANIC

  6. Cadero says:

    I’ve made a similar device with an emergency power cut off button for a friend of mine. It has proven a good thing that the button was rugged, certainly at moments when there was too much bad music in the playlist =p

  7. Whatnot says:

    So I’m thinking, get a cheap universal remote, wire the mute button to a big-ass button like this and put the contraption on the coffeetable.

  8. Red says:

    I’d call mine the “Nickelback Button”

  9. Gary says:

    Where can you get these buttons in the UK?
    I want to get two and have one as a copy button and one for a paste button for an on going joke in the office.

  10. thinkl33t says:

    Gary: I got mine from play.com, they’re £5 each.

  11. Tim says:

    anybody have the code for the minimus board? thinkl33t’s site isn’t working for me

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