On improving the iPod's aging UI and experience
The iPod is the 800-pound gorilla of the DAP industry - there's no doubt about it (well, almost). In its 4+ years of existence, the player has quickly won owner's hearts because of its ease of use and seamless iTunes management experience, amongst other reasons. I personally have owned one of every generation of iPod since the original 5 GB model with the *gasp* mechanical scroll wheel, before all this fancy touch wheel stuff you young whipper-snappers are spoiled with today.In all this time, however, the iPod's famously simple UI has more or less remained that way - staggeringly basic. While I personally am no fan of devices that add features and options simply for the sake of claiming 'it has more', I'm starting to think that there are a few areas that the iPod's UI and experience are in serious need of an update. Music (and video) collections are getting larger, people are interacting with their devices and the libraries on their computers through increasingly new (and truly useful) ways, and I think the iPod needs to catch up with the times.
Take Sony Ericsson's 4 GB flash memory music phone, the W950. While I by no means am about to toss my iPod for this expensive gadget (though, I think it is worth noting that Sony Ericsson's music phones, as well as the latest version of Windows Mobile 5, both support AAC files now), I do think the iPod could benefit from incorporating this 'browse albums by album art' feature - especially in an age of gorgeous color screens and 'make everything pretty' design techniques. Sure, this option's success and usefulness would hinge on how many songs and albums actually have art embedded in them, but maybe Apple could finally add a tool or plugin to iTunes that goes out and gets the art automatically. Countless little utilities and addons already do it, and heck, even the commercially successful Delicious Library does it - why can't iTunes?
Speaking of color, why not let users add a splash of usefulness to the (decidedly still black and white) iPod's UI by allowing them to specify a set of colors to artists, albums and/or songs that have ratings assigned to them. Red for five stars, orange for four, green for three - you get the idea. The human eye can pick out one of these colors in a list of 500+ artists a lot easier than the basic, Atari-esque menu color scheme we've had since day one.Last but not least is Apple's beloved 'shuffle' feature, after which they went so far as to name an entire iPod line after the concept. Front Row - which offers an iPod-on-your-Mac experience for your media - has even received a 'shuffle songs' option at the top of playlists and artist song listings - why not the iPod? It's a pain-in-the-thumb to keep having to click back out to the top-level Settings area on the iPod to adjust the shuffle setting between, for example, playing playlists or an entire album from start to finish.
These are the major areas where I believe the iPod's experience could use a serious update, but I'm sure they aren't the only ones. What say you, TUAW readers - does the iPod feel lacking? Sound off, if only for the empty hope that Apple's engineers might actually be reading TUAW - and listening.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
james brown said 4:55PM on 7-22-2006
the main feature that I would like to see included in the UI would the option to delete files from an iPod without the use of itunes.
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Silver said 5:15PM on 7-22-2006
Anything I want deleted from my iPod I simply give a one-star rating. Then I periodically delete all the one-star material from iTunes. Quick and easy!
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Neal said 5:16PM on 7-22-2006
When you select and 'go back' on the UI, it should have different themes... For instance, instead of just being pseudo-pages flipping around, you could make it looks like cubes, and it would rotate different menus out....or tiles.
You absolutely should be able to change colors of certain songs.
You should be able to skip ahead to a certain letter if you want... I have a Scion tC with the iPod integration stereo, and it takes forever to get to artists late in the menus....so if someone wants to listen to, let's say, Usher, it takes turning the multi-selector something like 60 times to get there. That's too long. The iPod should be able to be put on a setting where you browse by letter FIRST, and then into the letter..so you'd go through the alphabet, not all of the artists you have. It'd make driving a lot safer...and this should be OPTIONAL..not just on the iPod all the time, b/c most people probably wouldn't want it unless driving...also, Apple should work with manufacturers to make it so the 1-2-3-4-5-6 buttons on car stereos will skip ahead to certain parts of the alphabet...and put scroll wheels on car's steering wheels.
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Cody Dildy said 5:24PM on 7-22-2006
I don't really know if it falls under UI but something else I would like to see is wireless capabilities such as Bluetooth. Whether to connect to PC's to transfer files or connect to other iPods.
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David Chartier said 5:32PM on 7-22-2006
#2: Smart work-around Silver. I like that. I'd have to come up with something slightly different, however, as I currently use 1-star ratings to quickly make a party playlist; anything that becomes a good 'hey everyone knows and likes that song' gets 1 star from me right now; perfect for the Party Smart Playlist.
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Fraser Speirs said 5:33PM on 7-22-2006
Quote: "I do think the iPod could benefit from incorporating this 'browse albums by album art' feature". /quote
Whilst I haven't used the Sony-Ericsson phone in question, I have never forgotten a comment I heard on Sun's Project Looking Glass UI for browsing MP3s by shuffling pictures of their CDs: "Looking Glass is like flipping through a box of CDs. iTunes is like standing in front of your music collection, saying the name of the CD and having it instantly fly into your hands".
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Jp said 5:40PM on 7-22-2006
I totally agree with the posts. The UI should be updated. One area i would like to see is an easier ability to switch on/off "repeat". I listen to my playlist with repeat on, but i have some files that i just need to hear once when i go to bed.
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Alastair Stuart said 5:43PM on 7-22-2006
Thank god you don't work for Apple. Coloured listings? Eugh.
Although, something like CoverFlow on the iPod would be sweet.
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Mitch Greenfield said 5:57PM on 7-22-2006
Love the idea of browse by album cover and also the color option for artists/albums etc...much easier to pick out! Apple, u listening?
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tcvanp3570 said 6:07PM on 7-22-2006
What would be great is some kind of screensaver like the iTunes Visualizer. I know it would kill your battery, but still, I like the hypnotic quality of te Visualizer.
If ever you want to brainwash someone, put on some Enya and the Visualizer ;)
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John Iburg said 6:08PM on 7-22-2006
This is what Rockbox is for.
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Tony said 6:17PM on 7-22-2006
I like it as-is, because it *works*. I have yet to see any UI that allows me to find a specific artist, album, or song quicker and easier. I use my iPod for listening to music...not looking at a "pretty" UI. I want it functional, and it is...and then some.
That being said, I do agree it should be simpler to switch shuffle on and off. And Apple desperately needs to improve the shuffle algorithm...
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Ash said 6:21PM on 7-22-2006
I would like to see:
1. bluetooth integration for updating/synchronising.
2. a new button (or combination key) that will rewind your currently playing track by say 10 seconds. This would be very useful when listening to audiobooks and podcasts.
3. Browsing by album art is definitely a good idea, specially if apple introduces a plugin to pull the album art into iTunes.
That said, I'm not too keen on assigning colours to tracks of different ratings.
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Kevout said 6:24PM on 7-22-2006
I have always said shuffle/repeat options should be within the center button menus,, when a song is playing you hit the center button for ratings/album art/etc, why not have the menu after album art be for shuffle and repeat functions?
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Warui said 6:24PM on 7-22-2006
Hey, we got this trackpad scroll option in our laptops ... beg your pardon, notebooks, why can't we add it to the iPod? I have like 800 or more artists, i don't want to scroll on forever. Sure, after some rotations it gets quicker, but hey, it should be able to determine, whether you use one or two fingers. One for normal scrolling, two for a page/two pages/a whole letter. Or the fingers on opposing ends of the trackpad, how do i know ... but I'm always looking forward to great new iPods (with better screens please :D).
I personally dislike the idea of a coloured list. Surely you can attach a certain rating to a whole album or artist, but who does that? It would only be an eye catcher on the level of songs .... and insofar inconstistent design :-(
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paul said 6:26PM on 7-22-2006
You listen to the Spin Doctors. HA!
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Jason said 6:27PM on 7-22-2006
I agree with Tony. I bought an iPod to listen to music (and to have it alllllll with me). So I want to be able to get to my music, and play it. I can do that very well with the current UI, I (or ANYONE else who has used it) have never had a problem getting to a song and playing it in like 5 seconds. So why complicate it? The more complicated, the more room for error (delay).
Ever wonder why old computers with old OSes boot up in like 3 seconds and do all of their [basic] tasks quickly? Because they weren't written to be complex. They are simple, and therefore fast. New OSes take FOREVER to do anything
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eletro said 6:47PM on 7-22-2006
As for you people who don't want the UI to be updated, please go away. You're boring. I was so excited when the very first iPod Photo came out...I thought I was finally going to be able to browse albums by their covers (or even have a "screensaver" like the one on OS X that shows all your covers). 2 years later and still nothing. Sometimes when you're not sure what you're in the mood to listen to, just having the ability to glance at different covers would be so helpful.
Also, Apple, PLEASE put in the ability to have folders WITHIN playlists.
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Panayotis Vryonis said 6:55PM on 7-22-2006
I would like to extend the on-the-go playlist idea. I would like to be able to define a couple of playlists from iTunes. Then when I keep the select button pressed, instead of adding the song to the default on-the-go playlist, I would like to be presented by the option to select the playlist.
Something like this could work as a way to tag songs, podcasts, etc.
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Ben said 7:02PM on 7-22-2006
I have to agree with some that colors for rankings would make the UI look like a rainbow of crap but perhaps the ability to color playlists would be usefull. I know that with all of the playlists I have it would be nice to be able to pick it out faster based on the color.
One other thing that could be usefull would be to change the orientation of the screen. It wouldn't work so well if you are watching videos but what the hell.
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