Tactile Feedback (Touch)

I've managed to acquire both an iPod Shuffle (the original style) as well as an iPod Touch. As attractive and fun as the iPod Touch is, for listening to music the iPod Shuffle wins for me hands down. Why?

It's all about touch.

With the iPod Touch changing tracks, changing the volume, fast forwarding, or pausing the tracks require me to swipe my finger across the display and then figure out where on the screen I should tap or touch.

With the iPod Shuffle, I can control it blindfolded. I need to make it louder? No problem, just feel for the round ring and press up. Pause the track? Just find the big round button and press. The tactile feedback is wonderful (and the way it feels when pressed is very intentional, I'm sure). Even better, I can control the iPod through gloves or clothes, whereas the iPod touch I would need to hold it and have the skin make contact with the screen.

This reminds me of some fascinating research done by Patrick Baudisch on audio-based user interfaces, where sound cues are used to let the user know what is happening. The video below demonstrates the work:



See http://research.microsoft.com/users/baudisch/projects/earpod for the writeup.