viktorfrankl
2008-02-29, 00:14
Using an N800 as a primary mp3 player is problematic. There are some things that could be done to make it better though. I love the tablet because it is one gadget that replaces several other gadgets, but unfortunately I am getting more and more frustrated when using it as an MP3 player.
___As far as I've seen, there is no perfect or near-perfect mp3 playback app. For me, personally, a good media (or even just music) playback app would have the following:
-no eye candy. Just a black background with white text. Not textures and no animations whatsoever. No fades or dissolves. If I’m listening to music, I am not worried about how pretty the screen looks. (I am, of course, worried about how usable it is, and design does play into that.)
-a feature that allows the user to lock the touchscreen, but not the hardware buttons. That way, you can reach into your pocket and control the playback without worrying about the touchscreen.
-screen rotation, 90 degrees at a time, so you can use it in portrait mode, or use it upside down if that helps with being left-handed or something. I dunno. Why not?
-simple, hierarchical navigation, with access to all levels at all times (this is one of the complaints I have about iPods, too.) And why not implement an iTunes-like interface, as an optional navigation function? I don’t see why this is so impossible. Not ALL portable media players have to mimic iPods.
-no album covers. I really don’t care what the cover looks like. They are too small to use for navigation anyways. Most of my MP3s don’t have album cover files. About 1% of them do. This isn’t even a sacrifice, I actually really don’t want a media player with album cover functionality. Good transition to my next point....
-As touch screen-friendly as possible. Since I don’t care about album covers, I REALLY don’t care for them taking up the entire playing now screen. I am baffled as to why this would ever be a good idea. I want a huge play/stop button, two huge track skip buttons, a huge volume control, and file info text. I want the D-pad to behave like a normal MP3 player D-pad.
-I don’t care about rating songs. Why would you put songs that you didn’t like on your tablet in the first place?
-actual settings. I was excited to find out that Canola2 finally had real settings, and then was really disappointed when I found out that there was like 2 things you can set.
I apologize in advance is there is already an app that has these qualifications. I guess I didn’t look hard enough.
___Aside from software features, there are some limitations of the N800 that can’t really be remedied, like the fact that the headphone jack is on the opposite side of the D-pad, and so you can’t put your tablet in your pocket with the D-pad side up because there’s always a headphone cable sticking out the bottom. This is so annoying. It forces me to take out the tablet, unlock it, press buttons, lock it, and put it back in.
___As far as I've seen, there is no perfect or near-perfect mp3 playback app. For me, personally, a good media (or even just music) playback app would have the following:
-no eye candy. Just a black background with white text. Not textures and no animations whatsoever. No fades or dissolves. If I’m listening to music, I am not worried about how pretty the screen looks. (I am, of course, worried about how usable it is, and design does play into that.)
-a feature that allows the user to lock the touchscreen, but not the hardware buttons. That way, you can reach into your pocket and control the playback without worrying about the touchscreen.
-screen rotation, 90 degrees at a time, so you can use it in portrait mode, or use it upside down if that helps with being left-handed or something. I dunno. Why not?
-simple, hierarchical navigation, with access to all levels at all times (this is one of the complaints I have about iPods, too.) And why not implement an iTunes-like interface, as an optional navigation function? I don’t see why this is so impossible. Not ALL portable media players have to mimic iPods.
-no album covers. I really don’t care what the cover looks like. They are too small to use for navigation anyways. Most of my MP3s don’t have album cover files. About 1% of them do. This isn’t even a sacrifice, I actually really don’t want a media player with album cover functionality. Good transition to my next point....
-As touch screen-friendly as possible. Since I don’t care about album covers, I REALLY don’t care for them taking up the entire playing now screen. I am baffled as to why this would ever be a good idea. I want a huge play/stop button, two huge track skip buttons, a huge volume control, and file info text. I want the D-pad to behave like a normal MP3 player D-pad.
-I don’t care about rating songs. Why would you put songs that you didn’t like on your tablet in the first place?
-actual settings. I was excited to find out that Canola2 finally had real settings, and then was really disappointed when I found out that there was like 2 things you can set.
I apologize in advance is there is already an app that has these qualifications. I guess I didn’t look hard enough.
___Aside from software features, there are some limitations of the N800 that can’t really be remedied, like the fact that the headphone jack is on the opposite side of the D-pad, and so you can’t put your tablet in your pocket with the D-pad side up because there’s always a headphone cable sticking out the bottom. This is so annoying. It forces me to take out the tablet, unlock it, press buttons, lock it, and put it back in.