The Importance of Good Design (Lessons in MP3 Players)
A Little History
I have been through more MP3 players than anyone should ever own. I will soon be on
my fifth MP3 player.
-
A Rio 256M
flash player that I bought at a WalMart in West Virginia on a motorcycle
ride home to Boise. The Rio didn’t work by the time I got out of Ohio. Total junk,
I returned it to a WalMart in Missouri. -
I moved to a 4G
20G iPod that I got from a neighbor who wanted something smaller.
No complaints, with the possible exception of size. Repeated droppage ultimately killed
the hard drive, I think. I still have it, but it no longer works. -
I picked up a then newly released Creative
8G Micro Photo for a trip that I had to make. I loved this player,
it was perfect for the 3 days that I had it. With its small size, large capacity with
it’s little hard drive, built-in radio, and a color screen, it was perfect. Then I
dropped it and when I picked it up, it was dead as a doorknob. I took it back to Best
Buy and claimed total ignorance for a full refund. Is that wrong? -
I decided to try the 20G
iRiver H10, which included all of the features of the Creative
with a higher capacity and a reputation for durability. After owning and using this
player for a few months, I just have to admit that Apple got it right with the iPodApple
got it right with the iPod. I hate the controls of the iRiver and the player
is now on eBay, about to be sold.
Lesson Learned
With so many blown attempts, I have learned a few things about what I want in a player.
-
Even when my player has a radio in it, I don’t use it.
-
Most of my content is podcasts, which means that I do not need to carry around
20GB of files. That’s about a year of podcast wuality audio. -
Smaller is better. I really want the form factor that the flash drive provides.
Taking this player on bike rides and runs without having to hold it in my hand is
a big deal. -
Windows Media player kinda sucks. It is hard to navigate and you really have
to kinda “get” Windows for the software to make sense. -
Juice (iPodder) and other pod catchers are just clunky.
Apple Got It Right
The combination of the iPod click wheel and iTunes simply cannot be beat. The software
and the device are both just plain easy to use and that’s why I am going back to Apple.
I can run that wheel in the dark with one hand without seeing the player and get it
to do what I want. I hate to be part of the hype, but dang it, Apple wins.
The compelling form factor of both the iPod and iTunes has kept me up at night. Why
is it so hard to discover the perfect design? I wasn’t even the designer, I was just
trying different players. I cannot imagine the untold millions spent in R&D to
develop the iPod wheel control.
In an attempt to learn more about HCI (Human Computer Interaction), I am starting
with Designing
the User Interface : Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction (4th Edition).
If you have any other resources that you recommend, please shoot me an email or something.
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