Portable Media Player Requirements Prepared by: Michelle Chang CPSC 655 Sep 18, 2007

1. Introduction 1.1 Purpose This requirements document provides a description of the functions and specifications for a simulated portable media player. In addition, a study of how portable media players are used today with their existing designs and features will be provided. 1.2 Product Scope This product will be used by individuals who need to manage, store and listen to their music files on a portable device. The objective is to design a simple, intuitive interface with limited screen estate for managing music content. 1.3 Document Overview This document is divided into three chapters. The first provides an overall description of the functions of a portable media player. The second describes a usability study showing existing designs and interfaces. The last chapter explores use cases for desired features and functionality for the design of a portable media player. 1.4 References 1. Sommerville, Ian and Sawyer, Pete. Requirements Engineering: A Good Practice Guide. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN: 0471974447. 2. Le Vie, Donn Jr. Writing Software Requirements Specifications. URL: [http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/magazine/writing/softwarerequirementspecs.html]. Last accessed: Sep 13, 2007. 3. IEEE/ANSI 830-1993 Standard, Recommended Practice for Software Requirements Specifications, Software Engineering Standards Committee of the IEEE Computer Society, New York, 1993. 4. iPod 101: What’s on the Menu? URL: [http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304782]. Last accessed: Sep 15, 2007. 5. I Review Electronics. URL: [http://www.ireviewelectronics.com]. Last accessed: Sep 15, 2007 6. Sony Style Store. URL: [http://www.sonystyle.com]. Last accessed: Sept 15, 2007.

2. Overall Description A portable media player is used to access music, video and image files. In this document, the focus is largely on studying types of media and how people use, store and organize their media content. This study will inform the design of an interface for a portable media player. 2.1 Product Perspective This product builds on current designs of portable media players such as iPods, Zunes, Creative Zen and Sony devices for accessing audio, photos and video content. 2.2 Product Features The following functions are typically provided for portable audio players: 1. play, stop, pause, fast forward, rewind and skip 2. display information about audio content 3. search for songs/audio tracks 4. create playlist 2.3 Design and Implementation Constraints The portable media player will be simulated in Java. The player’s display area is limited to 320x240 pixel screen size and 320x240 pixels for interactive controls.

3. Usability Study 3.1 Purpose This study examines how participants interact with their media players for storing, managing and listening to their contents. Their existing interfaces were also investigated for the following usability goals: ease of use, good utility, ease of learning and how memorable the functions are for accessing media. 3.2 Data Gathering Methodology The following two techniques were used: 1. Direct Observation 2. Unstructured informal interview Data recording was accomplished with notes plus still camera. 3.3 Participants Five participants were observed and interviewed in this study and were selected if they were seen using a portable media player at a local gym or in the neighborhood. Age ranges were distributed as follows: 2 participants in age range [10-19], 1 participant in the age range [20-29] and 2 participants in [40-49] age range. Three participants were

runners, one participant a college student and the last participant a full time parent. All participants were computer literate and obtained their music content from either an online store or from a personal CD collection. 3.4 Interview Approach An unstructured interview was used to direct conversation. The following open-ended questions were asked of each participant: 1. What brand/type of portable media player do you have? 2. Where do you get your media content? 3. Why do you use a portable media player? 4. What features did you look for when you purchased your player? 5. What do you like about your media player? 6. What are your dislikes about it? What features are not used? 7. How long did it take you to learn how to use your player? 8. How do you organize your media? How do you access your media? 9. What improvements/features would you like to have on your player? 3.5 Direct Observation Participants were observed in their natural setting and were asked to walkthrough the following: interact with the device’s controls to access their songs, organize their media collection and select content for playback. 3.6 Results The results from the study are shown in the table 1 below.

30 mins

Bigger display showing audio track number, track title, total time of track, name of audio book during playback; good catalog system for easily selecting different audio books; wanted plug and view flash cards to store audio books and reduce need for PC to change audio content. very small display limited to 20 char’s that scrolls audio track title, always have to go to PC to get new audio book loaded, no menu. 1GB storage limit all audio books on small player, convenient to carry with no CDs, starts playback from last power off, skip within audio tracks; battery charges on USB port Leisure time and while driving

Sony mp3 player

#4

#5

Table 1: Summary of participants’ portable media players

10 mins

at least 4GB storage, search by song title, shuffle feature

memory limit (1GB), no shuffle

sporty, small, artist and song title display, easy to use buttons: play, rewind, volume, fastforward.

Bike riding and exercise

Sony Walkman Sporty mp3 player

1 day

Running

Custom button to repeat songs while running currently has to wait for entire song to playback, ability to add songs to existing playlist, ability to transfer music directly from CD player.

iPod Nano

sort by Composer and Photos menu option never used, battery lifetime short

purchase select tunes instead of entire album, custom playlist, lightweight, adapter for use in car, good screen size, sorting by artist, album, song title.

Few days 1000 GB storage

#3

storage limit (1.8GB)

1 day

Curve

Crosscountry

small, lightweight to use at school, ratings feature for songs, playlist especially for new songs, ability to shuffle music in playlist, skip parts of songs

Larger screen size for video playback

Improvements

iPod Nano

5000 songs limit (30 GB), small screen

features

Custom playlist, lightweight, easy to use controls, sorting by title, genre.

Pro’s

#2

Main Use

Running

Visual

#1

Player

Learning

iPod Video Classic

Participant

Con’s/Not used

3.7 Analysis and Trend for Existing Interfaces Participants in this study used their media players mainly for listening to music while doing some form of exercise. Hence they preferred a small, lightweight device with a very simple interface for accessing their music content especially while in activity such as running or bike riding. Almost all participants learned how to use their players within a day.

Figure 1: iPod’s menu for participants 1-3 [4] Amongst iPod users, participants (1, 2 and 3) enjoyed the visibility and feedback in the player’s menu screen for creating playlists (see Figure 1). All these participants ranked custom playlists as the most used feature of their iPods and spent the bulk of the interview describing their playlist option. Participant #3 noted however that he could not add additional songs to his playlist after it was initially created. He had to delete the entire playlist and recreate it to add his new songs. He also decides to repeat select songs while running and does not want to access menus at that time since this action is difficult while in motion. There was no easy repeat button during song playback and he disliked waiting for the song to complete before using the “Back” button. Participant #1 had a video iPod, however he did not have any video content on his player and rarely used it even though he liked having this feature. Participant #2 used the Song Rating feature on the iTunes website for purchasing new music and also ranked his songs for sharing with other shoppers on iTunes. None of the iPod owners used the Photo menu option.

Figure 2: Sony’s display for participant #4 [5]

Both participants #4 and #5 had Sony mp3 players. Participant #4 did not have a menu or the options to create different playlists and she did not want these features on her mp3 player (see Figure 2 for close-up of display). Her current display shows just the song title and artist during playback. She created her custom playlist by using her computer to copy songs to the music player and wanted a simple interface that just shuffled her music during playback with play, fast-forward, rewind and volume controls. She suggested having a search feature by song title but would not use it for playback. This search feature would be convenient for quickly finding songs she already had so that her daughter would not purchase and download the same songs again.

Figure 3: Sony’s display for participant #5 [6] Participant #5 used his mp3 player to store audio books only and listened to personal development authors during driving and leisure time. His current display scrolls only the track number and title track during playback (see Figure 3 for close-up of display). He requested a larger display which would provide a good catalog to quickly view audio book titles, the track number, track title and total time of track. He also emphasized that he needed to skip within tracks and that playback continue with the last track before the player was put in power off mode. Contrary to what I expected, participants did not need additional metadata that their players already offered. Audio content was organized mainly by song title/track title, artist/book author and album/book title and was utilized most frequently in that order using the menu’s browse option or during playback. Other metadata fields such as genre and composer were rarely used (if at all) on their media players. In summary, the following features were used most frequently and were desired among all participants for audio content: 1. ability to organize audio content using custom playlists including edit capabilities 2. ability to shuffle their music content during every playback 3. access music by artist, song title and possibly album Other features requested were: 1. quick accessible repeat song feature 2. search by song title and artist 3. larger screen size 4. community ratings and ability to create personal rating 5. skip within track

3. Functional Requirements This section of the requirements document provides use cases on the functional aspects for the portable media player as requested by the participants of the study in the previous section. The following controls will be on the device player: power on/off, menu, play, pause, rewind, fast forward, repeat, lock, scroll and select features. 3.1 Use Case: Access audio collection 1. User selects power on feature 2. Media player shows first screen with audio content presented in a menu containing browse options by artist/author, album/book title and track title and provide an option to create custom playlists. 3.2 Use Case: Create a playlist 1. User selects Playlist option from menu. 2. Media player returns sub-menu containing ‘New playlist’ option. 3. User selects ‘New playlist’ option. 4. Media player prompts for name of playlist. 5. User enters name for playlist. 6. Media player displays list of song/track titles. 7. User selects song/track titles to add. 8. Media player adds songs to playlist. 3.3 Use Case: Delete playlist 1. User selects Playlist option from menu. 2. Media player returns sub-menu containing ‘Remove playlist’ option. 3. User selects ‘Remove playlist’ option. 4. Media player requests confirmation. 5. User confirms Yes/No. 6. Media player deletes playlist. 3.4 Use Case: Access songs from custom playlist 1. User selects Playlist option from menu. 2. Media player returns sub-menu containing “Begin playlist’. 3. User selects ‘Begin playlist’ option. 4. Media player plays each song from playlist. 3.5 Use Case: Delete song from playlist 1. User selects Playlist option from menu. 2. Media player returns sub-menu. 3. User selects ‘Change playlist’ option 4. Media player displays all playlists 5. User selects name of playlist to edit 6. Media player shows sub-menu containing ‘Remove track’ option. 7. User selects ‘Remove track’ option 8. Media play displays all song/track titles for that playlist

9. User selects song/track title. 10. Media player requests confirmation. 11. User confirms Yes/No. 12. Media player deletes song from playlist. 3.6 Use Case: Add song to playlist 1. User selects Playlist option from menu. 2. Media player returns sub-menu. 3. User selects ‘Change playlist’ option 4. Media player displays all playlists 5. User selects name of playlist to edit 6. Media player shows sub-menu containing ‘Add track’ option. 7. User selects ‘Add track’ option 8. Media player shows all song/track titles from audio collection 9. User selects song/track title. 10. Media player adds song to playlist. 3.7 Use Case: Shuffle playlist 1. User selects Playlist option from menu. 2. Media player returns sub-menu containing ‘Shuffle playlist’ option. 3. User selects ‘Shuffle playlist’ option. 4. Media player shuffles songs randomly and begins playlist. 3.8 Use Case: Browse by artist/author 1. User selects ‘Browse’ option from menu. 2. Media player returns sub-menu containing ‘Artist/Author’ option. 3. User selects ‘Artist/Author’ option. 4. Media player shows all artists/author in alphabetical order. 5. User selects specific artist/author. 6. Media player shows all songs/tracks by that artist/author. 7. User selects specific song/track to play. 8. Media player plays song/track selected. 3.9 Use Case: Browse by album/book 1. User selects ‘Browse’ option from menu. 2. Media player returns sub-menu containing ‘Album/Book’ option. 3. User selects ‘Album/Book’ option. 4. Media player shows all albums/book titles in alphabetical order. 5. User selects specific albums/book title. 6. Media player shows all songs/tracks from album/book. 7. User selects specific song/track to play. 8. Media player plays song/track selected. 3.10 Use Case: Browse by song/track title 1. User selects ‘Browse’ option from menu.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Media player returns sub-menu containing ‘Song/track title’ option. User selects ‘Song/track title’ option. Media player shows all song/track titles in alphabetical order. User selects specific song/track title. Media player plays song/track selected.

3.11 Use Case: Repeat song/track 1. User selects quick Repeat feature during song/track playback. 2. Media player plays song/track again. 3.12 Use Case: Search for song/track 1. User selects ‘Search’ option from menu. 2. Media player returns input form. 3. User selects letter to search on. 4. Media player displays all song/title track matches. 3.13 Use Case: Display song/track information 1. User selects song/track to play. 2. Media player displays album/book cover image, album/book name, song/track number, song/track title, total time for track, community rating. 3.14 Use Case: Rate song/track 1. During playback, user selects ranking between 1-5 stars. 2. Media player stores ranking for song/track.

4. Non-Functional Requirements This section lists the constraints on the portable media player. 1. The portable media player must be simulated as a Java web start application or a Java applet. 2. The media player’s display area is limited to 320x240 pixel screen size and 320x240 pixels for interactive controls. 3. The media player must be small and lightweight. 4. The media player must have at least 100 GB storage. 5. Battery lifetime should be at least 24 hours of playback time. 6. Plug and view flash cards for reducing PC interaction to alter audio content on player.

Appendix: Glossary GB - gigabyte IEEE – Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers PC – personal computer USB – Universal Serial Bus