h a l f b a k e r yAssume a hemispherical cow.
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The "Cover Flow" interface Apple now uses in its new iPods, iPhones and in iTunes to allow you to flick through music is sort of cool, if slightly posey and hypnotic. However you still have to sort through your actual physical CDs or vinyl records in the old-fashioned way, so this idea is for a mechanical
"Cover Flow" device to hold your CDs or (the big, expensive version) your records, books, or priceless porcelain, and allow you to flick through them with only the softest caress of your finger, so beautifully counterweighted is the mechanism.
Cover Flow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover_Flow
[hippo, Mar 27 2008]
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Annotation:
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The linked Wikipedia article is less than comprehensive, so would someone please describe this interface. |
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If it's the interface I'm thinking of, the animation shows the selected record cover in a centred face-on view. The preceding and succeeding records are shown at an angle of perspective, as if the records were stacked. The front covers face you. |
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The device that [hippo] proposes would, I guess, be based on a circular carousel. Each CD case would be placed in a holder that positions the case upright. The carousel would have two points, diametrically opposite, that spin the CD case so that the front faces the user. As the carousel is rotated, successive cases would move towards this widget, be turned to face the user (90 degree shift), continue to turn (to 180 degrees) then continue round the carousel. |
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An issue with such a mechanical representation is that you don't ever get to see the back of the record cover... with all the track listing! |
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Thank you, [Jinbish]; sounds classy. I have no problem with shelves, personally, but that's not really the point, is it? |
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I love it, especially for books and porcelain. For music, it may be too late in the game. CDs are on their way out and the people who hold onto albums are not likely to appreciate a machine flipping their precious vinyl around. |
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[Ian] - exactly the argument for why the mechanical version will be better. |
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Actually now when I add something to iTunes which doesn't have an image, I just add an image (not always the right one) from a Google image search. |
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iTunes allows you to automatically
download cover art, shirley? Mine just
goes and gets any missing cover art when
it thinks I'm not looking. But maybe that's
only for music I've bought. |
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Yes but it only gets cover art for things
which are available at the iTunes store,
which isn't everything... |
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The dashboard widget linked by [boy's
parks] is great - seems to find art for most
albums, though not always very high-res. |
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