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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
3 or 4 years ago I was given an old 8-bit Amstrad home computer, of the type popular when I was at school, plus assorted peripherals and associated junk. I refused to have anything to do with the filthy thing, because it had a Z80 in it, so I passed it to one of my old colleagues to add to his collection. A few days later he told me what his sons made of it. He has two, aged at the time something like 11 and 9. (Their opening comment: "What's in the box? - ohh! A computer from the olden days!" :))
Surprisingly, both correctly figured out what the 3" disks were for.
The younger had never seen a cassette tape before, and didn't know what it was. The elder did know, and even knew how you used it - though as it turned out, this was only because he had had a very similar conversation with a friend's father (though it was a car tape player that time).
There was also a VHS tape in the box. Neither had the first idea what it was.
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).
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.