From: David McIntyre <plugh_at_mudbarn.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 15:10:59 -0700

I'm getting more familiar with the interface every day. But I see the
non-intuitive problem. Generally, I nav to a directory and press play on track
1 and listen to the end. This plain does not work on the playa.
I suppose you could put a little card next to the device to explain how to
enter browse mode, then re-program f2 or f3 with playlist feature (add comes to
mind).

On Tue, Sep 09, 2003 at 02:23:34PM -0700, Gvillo, Mike wrote:
>
> Long time lurker, first time poster...
>
> First off, Rockbox developers are great people, thank you so much!
> Archos is getting some very very good product made for them for free,
> shame on them for not kicking down to the developers.
>
> ***I would not bought another Archos player had it not been for
> Rockbox.*** (Ahem, Archos, you listening?)
>
> So I just got back from a week long desert camping trip/music/art
> festival with 30 some odd people. I took my FM recorder, a mixer, some
> PAs and 35 pages of my mp3s printed out to provide music for our camp.
> Never before was it more clear to me that the current user interface is
> FAR from user friendly. I had hoped that people would feel free to pick
> songs just like a jukebox in a bar, there's no way that would happen
> with the current UI. It's impossible for a 1st time user to just pick
> up the player and find/play/queue a song or album. Even for me, a
> patient long time Rockbox user, I would screw up while trying to make
> long playlists, sooner or later I'd play a song instead of queuing it.
> The On-play button combination isn't such a hot idea, eventually my
> finger loses pressure on the On button and I end up playing a song,
> interrupting what's playing (bad DJ!), losing the inserted play list and
> I would have to start all over again. (It would also be great to view
> the dynamic playlist.)
>
> Non-contributors can't really complain, Rockbox redefines Archos'
> products, the developers are doing an incredible job, it's a beautiful
> thing, but does anyone really think the current UI is any good?
>
> Suggestions: (what good is a 'bug complaint' without a posed solution?)
> On-play = button lock out, only prevents the music from being
> interrupted but you can still navigate the menus and change the volume.
>
> Menu = toggle from the WPS to the options list currently available under
> F1
>
> F1, F2, F3 = screens for queuing and other options but keep it all very
> high level stuff.
>
> If you can set an Archos in front of someone who's never seen an mp3
> player and they can use the basic features (play, navigate, queue, find
> the setting menu), then the UI is good.
>
> The current system of using up/down/left/right under the F1-3 menus is a
> good idea, I like that. The plethora of options are nice, there's a lot
> going for Rockbox, but the UI needs help. Someone needs to take a long
> step back and do a reality check on its design, it's hard to see the
> forest through the trees when you're so involved in the details of the
> project. Thanks for reading this far in my rant ;)
>
> Rock on...
> -Mike
>
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-- 
David McIntyre         plugh_at_mudbarn.com        http://www.mudbarn.com
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Received on 2003-09-10