What does an online audioblogging player really look like?
Yesterday I wrote about online audio metaphors. Today I ask What does an online audioblogging player really look like?. What I'm really talking about here is the MP3 player's GUI that navigates the user to the online produced audio content.
No it doesn't look like anything in the current crop of IPods or MP3 players (not that they couldn't be made to adapt - in reality these devices or really just a bunch of software code). Current MP3 players use the metaphors from the old analog offline world (see yesterday's post - Online audio metaphors defined). At the time of the development of the first generation of digital mp3 players (the RIO - I own and still have the original), the online audio producing world was silent, so the design of these first generation mp3 players was obviously tied to the offline audio producing world way of thinking. Audio file players that followed just continued this process, tapping into the legacy and expanding on what was created by the pioneers. The current players in the field need to recognize that times are changing, audio is beginning to be produced in the online world also, which makes it time to rethink how the audio players relate to what is completely happening with audio production, online and offline.
As I look at the current version of SoundBlox, I see some of the same legacy analog design thinking (Album, artist and tracks). Remember that SoundBlox is really just software so it can be changed and improved. How do we make/drive the next generation of SoundBlox features? We either need someone to learn Lazlo or we need to find a Lazlo developer or SoundBlox developer to customize SoundBlox to add the features it needs to support the online audio producers, currently the audiobloggers (website/weblog, webmaster/audioblogger and files/audiomessage).
The nice thing I found out about Soundblox is that it's code is freely available under the same terms of the Apache Open Source license, so it can used as a starting point or reference which will save a lot of time for someone who wants to build a new version and add to it the emerging online audio metaphors.
Any ideas on what's the best way to get these online metaphors/features into SoundBlox?
5:59:03 AM 
|
