Happy New Year everyone!
Ok so back on track with my thesis at the moment. Ive decided to concentrate on MP3 players as i see the variety of ways in which people are targeted to buy this or that “music box” , which is what it is in a way. Its only a box and is there something more meaningful to be done? Make people care about that object? Can that object become a connector to others, be it virtually or in real life? These are the thoughts im having around this subject at the moment…
And to kick off things i found this Mobile Community Design article on a few things that the iPod is not doing which i will try to adress on my thesis.
“Music is a shared resource. Bands record their own music and then trade it. People lend CDs to other people to listen to for a while. People recommend music to other people. People make bootlegs and then buy the original if they like it. How does the IPod support this? It doesn’t. It puts barriers in the way of it. Ever try finding a song on your IPod using a standard Windows interface? All the music is obfuscated into meaningless numbered folders. Copying music between IPods via a cable (much less wirelessly) isn’t supported. You might say that this is because of copyright issues. Then what about the IPod Photo? I take my own pictures, save them, and then want to share them. I can’t even connect the IPod to a friend’s computer and easily give them a copy of my latest travel photos. It is completely unusable due to the folder structure being used. This isn’t about copyright, it’s about the designers not understanding the social nature of handheld devices that hold personal data. These devices are about social networks and sharing. While we’re on the topic of legal music sharing: why can’t I send a snippet of a song to a friend, or a bookmark to purchase the song on the online music store, or download the song direct and wirelessly to the IPod? That would be visionary.”
A number of design opportunities here for my thesis…:-)