Here’s my design of the PandoraPod. I’d love to see it, would you? I think it could be a hit. Not only does it let you be portable with your audio, but you get the benefits of the Music Genome Project along with you, and an easy way to expand your collection on the go…

Please comment with any suggestions as to what features you’d like to see, etc. I’d love to be doing this type of user experience development, think it’s a good idea? I enjoy creatively making things better, but I’ve basically been in an Admin role in different parts of IT thus far… (Plus, somewhere like San Jose is looking pretty nice right now, as it’s -15F out here in Chicago…)

Product picture:

pandora-player.png

(Don’t mind the pic, first time on GIMP and using a touchpad…)

Product Description:

Based on the Insignia NS-DA2G, this NS-DA4G-P player boasts the size of an Altoids gum tin, while remaining under a half-inch thick. Offering FM radio, 4GB of mp3 storage, and the Pandora music service, this player offers a superior listening experience, not only by delivering the music you know you love, but finding the music suited to your tastes that you don’t know about, just like Pandora.com! Not only are listeners able to carry their music with them, but they are also able to listen to their Pandora music channels, and even buy-on-the-fly the tracks they like! (DRM free, of course) Price: US$119.99

Product Specs:

  • 4GB storage
  • FM Radio with 20 presets
  • WiFi 802.11g and Bluetooth enabled
  • Just over 0.5″ thin and weighs only 1.5 ounces
  • Supports MP3, WMA, OGG, Audible and JPEG formats

Product Accessories:

  • Car radio faceplate dock, with WiFi extender antenna / SatNav network linkup and audio amplifier
  • Recharging Desk dock with audio-in to computer (don’t need pandora in the browser to listen)
  • Armband, NON-white earbuds :-)

Menu Structure: (note – new menus are in bold, the rest is the same as the current NS-DA2G)

  • Now Playing (Displays current source)
  • Music Library (Plays mp3 collection)
    • Play all
    • Artist
    • Album
    • Track
    • Genre
    • Playlist
  • FM Radio (plays Radio)
  • Pandora (plays Pandora) (note – arrows up and down change channels, FF arrow skips song, ‘guide us’ button brings up Pandora-specific menu)
    • Rate
      • I like it
      • I don’t like it
    • Bookmark
      • Song
      • Artist
    • Buy
      • Buy-on-the-fly (PayPal? Pandora music store?)
      • Queue for later (iTunes / Amazon music store?)
  • Settings
    • Audio
      • Shuffle
        • On
        • Off
      • Repeat
        • Off
        • 1
        • All
      • Equalizer
        • Off
        • Rock
        • Jazz
        • Classical
        • Pop
        • Custom
      • A-B Repeat
        • Off
        • On
    • FM Settings
    • Display
      • Brightness
        • Level 1
        • Level 2
        • Level 3
        • Level 4
        • Level 5
        • Level 6
        • Level 7
        • Level 8
        • Level 9
        • Level 10
      • Rotation
        • Right Hand
        • Left Hand
      • Backlight
        • 2 Sec
        • 5 Sec
        • 10 Sec
        • 30 Sec
    • Time
      • Auto Power Off
        • 5 min
        • 10 min
      • Sleep
        • Off
        • 30 Min
        • 60 Min
        • 90 Min
    • System
      • Erase All
        • Yes
        • No
      • System Init
        • Restore Defaults
        • No
    • USB Mode
      • Media Manager
      • File & Folder
    • Information
    • Pandora Settings
      • User Information
        • Edit User Information
        • Add another User
    • WiFi Settings
      • Scan for Networks
      • Edit Saved Profiles
    • Bluetooth Settings
      • Make Discoverable
      • Connect to Devices

Afterthought: Ooh! What if it could read the ID3 tags off of your music collection, and build a new channel for you off of a particular Genre or group of selected songs? What about a temporary channel based off of whatever you currently have in the 4GB of storage? Nice!

edit: a few hours after I wrote this, Seagate announced D.A.V.E. Scoble has the inside track on what DAVE is. Check it out, it’s basicaly a generic 10 or 20GB hard drive with USB / WiFi / Bluetooth and an API to make it into whatever you want. If I can get my hands on one, I’ll learn whatever language the API is in, make a PandoraPod prototype (still need to figure out what device will tie into DAVE, and release the code, if it works.

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