Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Microsoft Zune Device Interface

The video above demonstrates everything that I love about the Zune firmware.
The first thing that I love is the "twist" interface. It eliminates the need for excessive menu drill-down. For instance, to switch from an artists menu to a genre or album menu, it is necessary to go "back" and select the desired sort method. On the Zune, you just swipe across the screen. The metaphor expands from "backwards and forwards" to "up, down, left, right," presenting new possibilities for how options and information can be displayed.
The very best part of the Zune interface though, is the use of text. For instance, at 0:14 in the video above, faint text can be seen underneath the album artwork and song title. This is a list of upcoming songs. Tapping this list causes it to display full-screen, where a song can be selected. The text above the album artwork is interactive as well. Tapping the artist name brings up that artists profile: albums in your collection by that artist, a list of albums available for purchase, pictures, a biography, even a list of similar artists, all in a "twist" menu.
The home screen has two faces, a typical list of media categories (music, movies, podcasts, apps) and the quickplay menu (now playing, recently played, recently added, and "pins" or any items that are frequently used).

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