A Very Non-PC Solution
After recent device creativity, and a seminar today on iTunes, I've come up with a new product idea - the iPod CD-Dock.
The look of it would be a simple CD walkman (though a bit bigger) with an iPod dock set above it. When you dock the iPod, you can play any music from it (with a screen showing details of the current song and allowing scrolling & selection, much like the iPod's screen) through the connected speakers.
If the iPod isn't present, you can put a CD in the unit (either audio or MP3/WMV/AIFF/etc files) and play the content in much the same way.
But when the iPod is present and a CD is put in, you are given the option of uploading the songs to the iPod. The unit would essentially have a cut-down version of iTunes within it to handle iPod updates and music playback.
This would essentially allow someone who doesn't own a PC to buy an iPod and get near-full use of it. It also means that an iPod can be listened to with a proper stereo (which is also possible with a PC, but adds yet more cost to the system, especially adding remote control support, etc).
The main obstacle that comes to my mind for this is song label creation. The best solution would be to download song names from Gracenote or another CDDB, but getting a net connection is required. Alternatively, ask the user to enter the details (not much fun with a phone-type interface on a remote control!).
The look of it would be a simple CD walkman (though a bit bigger) with an iPod dock set above it. When you dock the iPod, you can play any music from it (with a screen showing details of the current song and allowing scrolling & selection, much like the iPod's screen) through the connected speakers.
If the iPod isn't present, you can put a CD in the unit (either audio or MP3/WMV/AIFF/etc files) and play the content in much the same way.
But when the iPod is present and a CD is put in, you are given the option of uploading the songs to the iPod. The unit would essentially have a cut-down version of iTunes within it to handle iPod updates and music playback.
This would essentially allow someone who doesn't own a PC to buy an iPod and get near-full use of it. It also means that an iPod can be listened to with a proper stereo (which is also possible with a PC, but adds yet more cost to the system, especially adding remote control support, etc).
The main obstacle that comes to my mind for this is song label creation. The best solution would be to download song names from Gracenote or another CDDB, but getting a net connection is required. Alternatively, ask the user to enter the details (not much fun with a phone-type interface on a remote control!).
posted by Steven Morrison at 15:15
1 Comments:
Maybe the CD-Dock could have some sort of keypad, like a phone key-pad that could be used for entering names. Just the same as texting.
... Although I suppose it would seem odd entering text through the dock and into the iPod.
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