Half Sigma argues that iPhones are the worst MP3 players ever. The comments about how MP3 playing isn’t what iPhones are for begs the question: why not? There really isn’t any good reason. And especially no good reason that this design mentality should be expanding to other devices:
Grafting the iPhone’s clever, customizable interface onto other products sounds like a universal win. Then again, try using that touchscreen Nano. With the proper dance of carefully aimed taps and flicks, it can do more than any Nano before it. But when it comes to what iPods were built to do—play audio files—the Nano has devolved. The physical playback buttons have vanished. As one Macword reviewer complained when the player was released in 2010, it’s harder than ever to pause or play a track: “You must pull out the Nano so you can see its screen, then wake up the iPod, then navigate to the appropriate screen.” What might have been a one-step operation on the pre-2010 Nano now requires a sequence of three or four actions. And aside from adjusting the volume, the Nano can’t really be operated blind, with one hand in your bag or pocket. A software update this past winter allows for customizing the wake button to perform one function when double-clicked, such as skipping or pausing. It’s an improvement, but not a true fix. Like the iPhone, it still demands your full attention: Both eyes and, in most cases, both hands.
Admittedly, this is a minor detail. But that’s where interface design lives and dies, in the tiny time-savings associated with the simplest operations. An outstanding interface separates the products you love from the ones you simply use. In the Nano’s case, the touchscreen works. There’s nothing broken about it. But it’s clumsy and ill-conceived, given the uses for which it’s supposedly designed. To put a touchscreen on a Nano presumes that a touchscreen can be a universal interface, and that all devices aspire to do all things. But people don’t buy a Nano because they want a mini-iPhone or a micro-iPad. They want something they can shove in their pocket or clip to their shorts when they take a walk or go for a run, a device for playing music on the move. In those scenarios, a touchscreen doesn’t help at all.
As far as smartphones go, there really isn’t any good reason I am aware of that they can’t have a sort of music-playing mode. Why you shouldn’t be able to use your volume keys for stop-start-nextrack-etc in addition to volume control (indeed, my desire to switch tracks or pause-play exceeds my ability to change volume. I mean, I want to be able to change the volume, but generally speaking once I get that right I can simply remove the device from my holster and deal with it manually.
This isn’t just an iPhone or an Apple thing. Everybody has been following their lead and Android still isn’t as good as Windows Mobile 2003 when it comes to this sort of thing (and Windows Mobile isn’t as good as the old fashioned Walkman, for that matter). The push towards fewer and fewer physical buttons is driving this (my old TyTn has almost 20 buttons, it’s successor has 8 or 12 depending on whether you count the directionals, its successor has 7 with no directionals though a zoom scale, and my current Android phone has 7 but all are hard-directed to particular tasks). Other than base aesthetics and a desire to control, I can think of no reason why you can’t have a protruding button (that you can feel through your pocket or holster) that is configurable.
Now, for MP3 playing specifically you can buy a cheaper device that is more specifically geared towards the basic tasks of listening to music, podcasts, or audiobooks. But it still leaves the question as to why this basic functionality should be outsourced from a powerful device to a much less powerful one. I have my Android phone acceptably doing these things, but only due to my willingness to limit my Bluetooth headsets to a very narrow selection (AVRCP-capable, but single-ear) and it’s unreliable and buggy.
Erik Sofge’s comments about automakers is particularly disconcerting. That’s where easy access to doing things can literally be a matter of life and death. My phone has a superior navigation application than my old Garmin GPS, but I end up using the latter simply because the complexity of using the phone would make me more accident-prone. And neither the GPS nor the phone has the embossed buttons that are easier for effortless control. My car radio does, but it’s not clear how much longer that’s going to be the case. I end up listening to audio from my phone in the car most of the time anyway, which I only have embossed physical buttons on my earpiece because of the great care I’ve taken in that regard. I’m not even listening through the earpiece most of the time (I hook it into the aux jack and listen through the car’s speakers), but still use the earpiece for the buttons that don’t exist on the phone itself.
I still refer to the ability to navigate music as The Walkman Test, even through the last iteration of Sony Walkman’s (Android devices) themselves couldn’t pass The Walkman Test.
I’m weird with electronics. I don’t like them to multi-task too much. I like my phone to be a phone (although it’s also a web-surfer). I like my iPod to be an iPod. It creates some clean edges around my electronic life, which I find lately has become more and more chaotic.
There is something to be said for that. I used to have a separate Pocket PC and cell phone. I only went with a smartphone because of a former employer’s laughable security policy (a Pocket PC with a microphone was deemed a security threat, but a Pocket PC with a microphone, camera, and cellular capability was deemed okay). Once I got the smartphone, though, I never looked back. It was a while later that I got the data plan, and… ditto.
Don’t get me started on security policies. We’re not supposed to carry thumb drives but I can carry my smartphone and a mini-USB cable. And also access my personal email.
There’s no reason why you can’t accomplish this with a modular design.
Your phone sits in your pocket, and the music player controls live on your watch.
Like this! I was actually all set to buy it until I realized that it seems that you have to use its own music player. I need an audiobook player and cannot – without buying the watch – find out if its player meets the bill.
I fully agree with you about physical buttons. But I do question your premise:
The comments about how MP3 playing isn’t what iPhones are for begs the question: why not? There really isn’t any good reason.
I’m not an electronics geek, so perhaps my analogy doesn’t travel to that world well. But with tools, I find that multipurpose tools really don’t work well. Those Ronco 75 tools in one deals that sell on late night TV? They’re selling on late-night TV because nobody who uses tools regularly would ever buy one, so stores won’t waste space on them. Not only is a screwdriver not a hammer, but a hammer is not a hammer is not a hammer–there are different hammers for different uses. When I bought my house, the previous owners left one of those cute little screwdrivers where the different bits are stored in the handle, and you just pull out the bit you need for the particular job. It’s a piece of garbage. I have about 10 screwdrivers and I’d like a few more.
Now I do realize that electronic items are different, because they’re much less bound by physical constraints. A ball peen hammer can’t also be a 3 pound sledge, while a phone can be an mp3 player. But I wonder if there are certain needs of good phone design that conflict with the needs of good mp3 player design.
For example, you suggest using the volume buttons for both volume and stop/start/next track. But using the same button for multiple purposes tends to be confusing for most people. You might handle it perfectly well and be better off, but I suspect it’s not likely most users will.
Of course I’m a luddite, so I may not have any idea what I’m talking about. My only mp3 player is my workplace laptop, and I’d rather die with a hammer in my hand than an electronic device. 😉
I’m a double-Luddite with a cherry on top, and ironically work in technology. And I’m totally with Will on everything he wrote.
Someone bought me one of those ridiculous last-generati0n iPod Nanos that looks like a postage stamp, and I find the thing almost unusable. It takes attention, visual access, patience, and an absence of sunlight to go to the next song or playlist.
The current behemoth that is Apple absolutely dominated the MP3 market not because of superior audio quality, but superior usability. I hope this whole touchscreen thing is a fad: I still prefer dedicated, static, tactile controls, whether on MP3 players, phones, cars, or thermostats.
My ancient nano got recalled (something about the battery exploding) and replaced with the brand-new nano that Snarky describes, which has a gazillion times as much memory, but
1. Again as Snarky describes, the user interface is unusable. Which is ironic, because the original nano’s one-button press-or-rotate UI was a triumph.
2. It uses the same connector, but Apple has apparently changed the pinouts, because when I connected it to my car stereo, it played but didn’t charge. So instead of keeping it in the car like the old one, every week or so I had to remember to open up the glove compartment, disconnect it, take it into the house, and charge it.
So I said the hell with it and gave it to my daughter.
To me, the primary advantage of having a smartphone is precisely that it can do everything. I’m not so much asking it to play MP3’s as I am for it to play MP3’s well.
Regarding the volume buttons, I can’t speak for the iPhone but with Android those buttons are actually recommissioned for other tasks. Inexplicably, though, never for volume (instead of scrolling or zooming).
I recently upgraded to an iPhone and sort of regret it. There are a handful of times where it’s convenience is amazing, but a bunch of other ones where it is no better or actually inferior to my old phone, a basic, non-smart, non-web enabled phone. The biggest drawback is the battery, which can’t make it through a full day (in part because my job has shitty service and weak WiFi, so it is constantly searching for signal which drains it); my old phone could go several days without a charge.
I don’t listen to a ton of music and occasionally listen to podcasts. My old phone did this well, with the only downside being that it needed a micro-plug adapter. It didn’t have a touch screen, but had a sort of touch-sensitive directional pad, which could make navigating frustrating. As a result, I usually used an old fashioned Nano precisely because I could manipulate it without looking, something really important when I’m running, the most common time I listen to audio. I sometimes think the iPhone is designed for a very specific type of user and the rest of us shoehorn ourselves into its convenience because we think we’re supposed to have an iPhone. The reason I got it was to increase our cloud capabilities (integral when juggling Zazzy and I’s schedules in professions where we can’t regularly talk on the phone) and to ensure she could always reach me with the pregnancy and baby.
But, yea, sometimes the iPhone just sucks.
Kazzy, the battery life issue was rough when I switched from cell phone to smartphone, and then again when I switched from Windows Mobile to Android. The advantage of my current phone over the iPhone (and some Android phones) is that I have interchangeable batteries so I can just swap in the middle of the day if I need to. It’s an inconvenience, but I am pretty much an addict to having a computer on my hip.
I never had a computer on my hip so never felt I was missing out on anything. People just knew not to expect an email response from me if I was on the go and I was always available via text. I was generally happy enough not having an immediate answer to questions when on the go and am enough of an anal-retentive planner that I usually had the necessary information when I was out. I have a GPS in the car that does well enough to locate places based on category or name searches and I don’t consider myself above using 411 to get a phone number and calling for an address or directions. People would often bemoan how I lived without a smartphone and the reality is that I lived the way everyone did before they had smartphones, plus their ubiquity meant I could lean on others if ever really in a pinch.
So now when I drive home and my phone is dead… not dying… dead, I am incredibly frustrated. I’m sure I can tweak settings to improve battery life and have already ordered a pack of accessories so I can charge at work and in the car, but it is frustrating that the purpose of the smartphone in general and iPhone specifically is self-negating… sure, I can go on the internet while waiting for the bus, but my phone might then be useless by the end of my ride. Oh, and I’m paying an extra $20/month or whatever it is for this privilege.
My GPS was bought more than five years ago. It was one of the first SmartPost packages. It still hasn’t been delivered yet. It’s been through multiple repackagings (and money’s on someone stole the actual gps)…
The S.S. Magellan sails on…
I respectfully dissent. I have an Android phone and a Kindle Fire, both of which have problems. But for me, those problems do not include the touchscreen. I like the touchscreen very much. Leave aside the aesthetic of the sleek touchscreen, which is a considerable advantage all by itself. Leave aside the relative lightness that can be achieved with a digital rather than a physical interface.
It’s the lack of moving parts is worth the small awkwardness of the touchscreen interface. A physical button means that there is a contact somewhere. If something moves, something can break. That isn’t going to happen with a touchscreen. And it’s prettier and lighter.
I don’t listen to enough music on either device to really need to have the ability to push a button blind. It’s rare that I’m engaged in physical activity such that I cannot spare a glance at the device to operate it. When I am in such a situation (driving or exercising), I have a playlist created in advance. Yes, sometimes I put a song on the playlist that when it actually comes up I don’t want to listen to after all. If I’ve just heard six five-star songs in a row, having to listen to a three-star song next may seem like a letdown. But you know what? I’ll search deep within myself and somehow find the fortitude to endure.
The only real downside is the screen gets a little bit greasy with all the finger-touching. I have to wipe it down every once in a while. But for me, this is a small price to pay. I like my touchscreens. You button-pushers should be able to find options to please you, of course, but I’m totally good with the screen.
Not prettier. Harder to read. Particularly in sunlight. I like Electronic Ink!
Buttons on tablets don’t actually bother me as much. At least, the way I use mine, I am either using it with my attention or not using it. I’m not trying to use it as an MP3 player or do something with it while driving.
I still prefer physical buttons, but I admit that’s largely aesthetic.
I’ve held on to my old Blackberry Bold for this reason. I can use the touchscreen keyboard on the Mrs.’ iPad and iPhone just fine, but when I have a lot of e-mails to write, the physical keyboard is just a lot faster.
I am waiting for Christmas to open my Nexus 7 tablet as the Bold is nigh worthless for Internet surfing. Maybe I’ll find with experience, I’ll be much better at touchscreen typing.
On a related note, I still carry an several year old iPod Nano with me on all my trips. Last time I was overseas all the Singaporeans pointed and giggled at me that someone would be caught dead in public still using an iPod.
I held on to my Windows Mobile phone as long as I could, in large part because of the Walkman Test. The worthless Internet surfing was one of the big reasons I finally made the transition.
Physical keyboards are something I was intending to write about in a follow-up, but as I have been trying out the various virtual keyboard options, I’m actually coming around on it. I’ll still probably write about it with a piece on how Android handset makers truly dropped the ball on the enterprise market.
for my stupid big hands, i’ve found my galaxy nexus + swiftkey 3 enables me to write work emails with far more speed than any physical phone keyboard.
as for music players, i can play flac and mp3s using the stock android music player, and if verizon ever approves 4.2, i’ll have gapless playback as well. physical volume buttons and lock screen controls (pause and skip tracks)…not sure what else it would need to do. if it had good eq like my old cowon player, that’d be gravy, but i can live with a little more than good enough to only have one device.
I can play the files. What I can’t do is pause/start/skip without taking out the device or looking at it and/or the use of a Bluetooth headset (AVRCP).
What is this you’re saying about 4.2 and pause/skip?
4.2 is supposed to have gapless playback between tracks. though probably only for mp3s, which means jack to me as i rip flac.
so you’re talking about being able to pause or skip etc like you can change the volume in your pocket (presuming your device has volume buttons which i believe all of them do?)
From a slightly different perspective, they’re terrific for hobbyists. A couple years ago I built The World’s Most Sophisticated Whole-House Fan Controller for my wife. For the first season, the user interface (UI) consisted of virtual buttons with changeable labels running down the side (with the option of setting it up for right-hand or left-handed operation) and a virtual slider. After a summer’s experience, I rewrote the UI to use a virtual five-way keypad and a virtual 4×3 matrix keypad. I’ve taken the wall-mounted box down to reprogram again — I’ll keep the five-way and 4×3 keypads, with the appropriate one displayed for the chosen function; the slider goes away; the buttons get relocated to the bottom of the screen; and there will be a new mode for configuration settings with a whole screen full of labeled buttons.
The only hardware change I’d make is to add a little clicker so the software could give audio feedback when a button touch registers; changing a button’s appearance on the slow relatively-dim monochrome (ie, cheap) LCD display doesn’t give adequate feedback.
If challenged with the “if in MP3 player mode, make it possible to run this device by touch” problem, I’d probably try index-finger gestures of some sort on the touchscreen. Single-tap, double-tap, tap-and-hold, circle-clockwise, circle-counterclockwise, slide up, slide down… all things that can be done and have clear meaning without having to look at the device. Newer devices support multi-digit gestures like pinch — slow pinch open and slow pinch close seem like ideal gestures for a volume control, for example.
I guess I’m a little surprised that some sort of extension to allow the user to map gestures to app functions isn’t already around.
My player has such gesture possibilities, but it doesn’t work as well in reality as it did in my head. It might be workable if I replaced my holster with something open-faced. But it doesn’t respond well when you’re reaching through canvas or jeans.
Do they still make headphones that have built in controls? My old school Nano had a pair that did as much. I wonder if those would be compatible with the iPhone (unlikely) or if a new one could be made (I don’t see why not).
Yes, the feature you would be looking for is called AVRCP. I use my Bluetooth earpiece to pause-play. It’s pretty imperfect, though. On the other hand, my headset is a one-piece cheapo one (there aren’t many options for one-piece headsets with AVRCP and A2DP). They should be compatible with an iPhone.
Now, I’m talking Bluetooth here. I’m not sure about something you plug in.
Blue… tooth…? My toothpaste guarantees pearly whites.
Cables are soooo yesterday.