

Cassette Tape UI - justhw
http://www.schillmania.com/projects/soundmanager2/demo/cassette-tape/

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jaysonelliot
I wouldn't call this "an exercise in skeuomorphic excess," since it doesn't
actually re-create any real-world interactions.

The value of skeuomorphism is that it uses visual representations of familiar
physical objects to help people understand how to interact with an interface.
It's not always appropriate, but it has its place when it's done right.

In this case, there's a cassette tape, which is not itself an interface, but a
storage medium. Unless the user mouses over the cassette, there are no
controls visible at all. Once revealed, the hidden controls turn out to be
simply a set of traditional play and seek buttons, albeit oddly arranged (I'm
not sure why the play button is backwards). It took some experimentation on my
part to learn that clicking the cassette itself also toggles playback, and
that clicking on the label reveals a hidden input field.

One of the biggest criticisms of "flat UI" is the lack of visual affordances
that show users what is clickable, and what it should do. This ersatz
"skeuomorphic" interface has the missing affordances of a flat UI, without the
trendy design.

I guess it's funny, but I would had more fun if it had gone all the way, such
as re-creating a classic cassette deck, or a Walkman, or something.

~~~
ajanuary
Interfaces are a two way deal: input and state representation. I would say
communicating playback progress through tape reels is skeuomorphic.

You're right in that it's not really "excess".

~~~
jaysonelliot
True, it has some skeuomorphic elements. I suspect the creator was trying to
make fun of skeuomorphism through excess, but missed the mark by
misunderstanding the concepts involved.

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hmsimha
What concerned me the most was whether the diameter of the spool with less
'tape' on it grew faster than that of the spool with more tape. It doesn't
(but it should)

Mathematical accuracy aside, while I think this is definitely a cool
visualization, it would benefit from some kind of time display and an easier
way to navigate through the tracks.

~~~
astrodust
The right wheel, the one being driven, appears to go faster as it plays, which
is incorrect. The drive wheel is always moving at a constant rate of rotation.
the left side should be speeding up as the amount of tape shrinks.

In fact, it appears that the right side is doing what the left side should be
doing. Seems like a simple mistake.

~~~
DerekL
No, that's not right. The tape always moves at a constant _linear_ speed, so
both reels will go at a faster angular speed as the amount of tape shrinks.

~~~
astrodust
I'd forgotten about the rubber drive wheel. Then the simulation needs some
more work.

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to3m
Instant feedback, as I imagine it:

age <= 16: "What is that?"

16 < age <= 30: "Gram-o-phone? Isn't that what they used to call these? Like,
in the olden days? Wait... why can't I skip?"

30 < age: "If you think I'm going back to using cassettes, you can stop RIGHT
there and fuck RIGHT off."

~~~
scott_o
I find it entertaining how people think that younger generations don't know
what things are. The majority of teenagers right now could tell you what it is
and probably even how it worked.

~~~
DanBC
Majority?

One reason they know about it is because there's some retro stuff happening,
and cassettes are appearing on t-shirts and iPhone cases. Also, "mix tapes"
are probably still big, even if they're in a different format.[1]

But I doubt that most teenagers really know much about a cassette. I guess it
depends how much we're talking about. They might know it's something that held
music. But would they know about C60? Or the prevent-record tab? Or spinning a
cassette on a biro to rewind it (or gentle twiddling the biro to wind tape
back on after it had despooled)? Would they know about chrome? Would they know
that cassettes were double sided?

I'm making a list for my son (he's 2 1/2) of things we do today (and things I
did when I was younger) that he might find weird. Cassettes definitely go in
that list. "Physical thing? For sound? What bit rate? Wait, what, analogue?".
I'm also including the fact that I used to have to chop wood for the fire and
that we had a 'party line' (a phone line shared between a number of households
with phase based signalling).

~~~
alpeb
What's the [1] for?

~~~
DanBC
Whoops.

[1] What is the modern equivalent of a mixtape? MixCDs are almost equally
archaic. A mix-playlist??

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soulclap
I dig it. Thanks for putting it up here. Graphics could be nicer I guess but
all the talk about 'skeumorphism' and accuracy (although this is helpful
feedback and if I'd code something like this, I'd also want to strive for
accuracy) kind of weirds me out, once more. Can't you just enjoy it for a
minute there?

Also, always a pleasure to hear fragments of 'The Edge' by David McCallum
(also used in one of my favorite 'true school' hip hop tracks, 'No Regrets' by
Masta Ace).

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ebbv
It's kinda neat but the Play button is facing the wrong way.

~~~
ExpiredLink
He's probably a leftie. It doesn't play anything on my PC, though.

~~~
ebbv
Doesn't matter, play buttons should always point right. And in this case
specifically the tape is spooling from left to right. :)

~~~
Terretta
There were non-flip decks with a play button for the Side B side. That play
button pointed left. But this tape direction is playing the Side A track.

Teac double auto reverse deck:

[http://cachepe.zzounds.com/media/quality,85/CASS_202mkIII_SP...](http://cachepe.zzounds.com/media/quality,85/CASS_202mkIII_SP-2a7d890a47c506964d9833ace07fc31a.jpg)

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jamesgagan
soundmanager2 is awesome - I use it for my project tunes.io This interface
brings back memories of Mixwit! (YC W08) <http://mixwit.wordpress.com/>

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TazeTSchnitzel
Reminds me of the iOS Podcasts App, except not quite as bad.

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usrix
very confusing... when you change the controls position it loses all the model
that we have of a play control

