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 The
research objective of this project is to determine feasibility
of a new digital music delivery system. This system should
allow customers without internet access or computers to
have as rich an experience as those with such resources,
without having to compromise quality.
Project Goals
1. Determine what type of machine
the Digibox should be, in order to satisfy Digiwaxx's
desire to distribute their music digitally.
After meeting with Digiwaxx in New
York the team determined that the
final, in-store box needs to:
- Stand alone and be inviting and easy
to use
- Burn custom mixed CDs
- Upload MP3s to a customer's player
- Cost under $5,000
- Remain light and as small as possible without sacrificing
impact
- Be updatable from a remote server
- Keep track of customer's purchase history and allow
the re-download of songs that had been bought.
- Support credit card purchases as well as Digicards
- Track customer statistics
- Take customer music requests
- Link account information with the company's website
- Be urine proof (robust)
2. Build a prototype
machine that proves that the concepts behind the Digiboxx
are possible.
It would not be possible in our timeframe
to build a machine that satisfies all of the above requirements.
Instead the prototype will be built to prove the core
concepts. These include:
- Burning CDs based on customer's selections
- Upload to one or two MP3 players
- Show the basics of the interface and the design
- Update its content from a remote server.
3. Provide a roadmap
that explains what else needs to be added to the machine
to make it ready for manufacture.
Research
Gabe uses a kiosk at the Virgin MegaStore. |
A Barnes and Noble listening station |
Before beginning work on the prototype,
we went through three phases of research to determine
our ultimate concept.
- Existing technology. We researched
what other devices already exist that do similar tasks,
as well as looked for market data and statistics regarding
digital music. Much of this research went into our original
design proposal.
- Meetings with Digiwaxx. We traveled
to New York and presented a design proposal to the company
executives. Click
here to download a copy of that document. In our
first meeting we determined their main goals and expectations
for the project. In the second meeting we spoke to several
of the company's friends and discussed digital music
trends as well as their desires for a machine like the
box.
- Tour of music listening stations and kiosks.
While in New York we took the opportunity to visit Tower
Records, Barnes and Noble, Virgin Megastore and several
smaller stores to see how their kiosks and listening
stations worked.
One of the original concepts for the DigiBoxx
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Concept
This is stand-alone kiosk solution that
would allow a customer to walk up to the machine, sort
through available music and purchase songs in a variety
of digital formats. A customer would walk up to the machine
and plug-in his MP3 player. After looking through the
ten most downloaded songs he finds the song he is looking
for. He puts on the attached headphones to listen to a
20 second sample. He decides to buy it, swipes his credit
card, creates a user account and downloads the MP3 to
his player.
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| The Creative
MuVo is one of the two players the prototype will
support. |
Challenges
- MP3 player support. Most players
have proprietary software that copies the files to from
the computer to the player. This prevents the Box's
software from being able to treat each player the same.
Solution: To support only one or two,
drive-based players in the prototype. In order to have
MP3 player support, Digiwaxx may have to contract with
manufactures and specifically build in support for their
players.
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