Core77 Exclusive: IDEO's I Miss My Pencil C60 Redux brings touch back to music
By Rain Noe - Dec 10, 2010
Last year we reviewed the book I Miss My Pencil, by IDEO's Design Director Martin Bone and Materials Scientist Kara Johnson. We just came across a very cool project on their attendant website, which is dedicated to creative experiments, called C60 Redux.
The concept behind the C60 Redux is this: We've gone from handling vinyl, tapes and CD's to clicking on MP3's, losing tactility in the process and making a casualty of the mix tape. Is it possible to bring that back in a digital way? Bone, Johnson, and a group of IDEO designers endeavored to do so by creating a music player built with RFID readers and some Arduino Mini Pros, all housed in a record player case. See for yourself:
Rain Noe
Rain Noe is a writer and industrial designer based in New York City.
10 Comments
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Ok, I know this seems heretical but while the product looks pretty and stylish and "hip"... weho is really going to use it and for how long. There are only so many studio and gallery owners to sell this to. Sorry, If I bought this I think I'd use it for a few hours then put my earbuds back in cuz they're way more convenient and conpact.!Report as spam
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Maybe have the cards read what's written on them? I don't know exactly what would be required for something like that, but maybe a tactile sensor on the card could read and understand something written on top of it, like a whiteboard, and then relay that to the main unit? You wouldn't even have to recharge them by putting them somewhere, you could have them charge while on top of the platform using that wireless charging technology they've been displaying on tv these days.!Report as spam
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Similar to this project as well. I like the record/record player look though. http://roteno.com/?q=node/78!Report as spam
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Very similar project done a few years ago by a couple RISD students: http://jonathanoconner.com/index.php?/visual/record-player/!Report as spam
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And really, if it were to become more than a gimmick, one card for one track is really not feasible, or you'd have to store thousands of cards. Album cards would be required, with some way of skipping between tracks in that album...!Report as spam
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Great work! I really see a purpose/need for it. To let guest create a playlist at private parties without messing up your computer... The only thing is how many tags can it handle and what happens if you just move (but don't remove) a card? Skip and shuffle seems me unnecessary. Skipping track would mess up the constant flow of music, if it's a bad song you can still remove the song. And shuffle happens automatically as the tags are shuffled...!Report as spam
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very innovative design...!Report as spam
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First off, I love the concept -- for me, this only reaffirms IDEO's position as one of the world's leading creative firms. As demonstrated by innovations such as multitouch, gesture recognition, and most recently the Microsoft Kinect, the design of human-computer interactions ultimately boils down to finding that sweet spot where the innate intuition of the physical realm meets the powerful possibility of the digital realm. I'm curious as to whether the C60 Redux allows for someone to overlap two or more cards to play them concurrently. If the concept was to "find a physical representation of the elements of modern [digital] musical life", then perhaps the most important element that the product should address is this idea of the remix -- what is arguably the folk art of the 21st century. Imagine being able to physically manipulate the RFID cards atop the player, mixing and matching melodies, rhythms, and lyrics to create seamless blends of existing songs. The act of DJing in itself is very much a tactile experience; a remix feature seems almost natural for a device like the C60 Redux.!Report as spam
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I would rock one of these in a HEARTBEAT! I wish some of this stuff was more well known. Art in the States just isnt as appreciated as it is over in Europe :/ Definitely some amazing stuff, and even better that it involves music and technology as well as design :D And to the post above me... gestures would have also been a nice touch, but hey, its already pretty dang amazing!!Report as spam
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I absolutely love this, brilliant piece of design, just watching it makes me want to interact with it. The responsiveness is a large part of this, but I think the use of card for the 'tapes' adds another level of tactility over plastic. I would love to see if they have worked out gestures for skip and shuffle or other functions, and if they are just as intuitive as the functions shown. Also, bypassing the computer must be a target for future development...!Report as spam
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