Usability issues with new iTrip
– posted September 11th, 2006 by Colman Walsh No comments
Good news and bad news for Irish iPod fans. The good: the iTrip, a small transmitter that allows iPodders to broadcast music wirelessly over their radios, will soon be legalised in Ireland. The bad: a new version of the iTrip contains a “feature” that renders it virtually useless, and has me frustrated and perplexed.
The original iTrip was a joy to behold. A tiny gadget that attached to the top of my iPod, it let me play music in the car, in hotel rooms and anywhere else where I didn’t want to bring a connecting cable with me. All I had to do was tune my iPod to the same frequency as the nearest radio, then sit back and listen to Nana Mouskouri, Pantera, or whatever else took my fancy.
When I recently upgraded my iPod I was obliged to upgrade my iTrip too. Along with some clever new features comes a terrible one: the new model automatically adjusts the volume on my iPod to its “optimal” level, apparently to avoid distortion. In reality, it just disables my iPod’s volume control, meaning I can’t adjust the sound to my own personal preferences.
Worse, the “optimal” level is so low that it barely registers with the nearest radio, omitting a weak signal with lots of hissing. With the old iTrip, a weak signal was counteracted by cranking up the volume, and a good, solid stereo sound could be transmitted from a distance of at least ten feet. But now I can’t adjust the volume, and even when I place the iTrip on top of my radio, the sound quality isn’t worth listening to.
The new iTrip, therefore, contains a feature that is not only guaranteed to frustrate anybody who likes to adjust the volume on their iPod (i.e., everybody) but also makes the product perform notably worse than its predecessor.
Frustrated? Certainly. I spent good money on a product that doesn’t do what I want it to do. And I purchased it when I was in Sweden, so I can’t refund or exchange it easily.
Perplexed? Most definitely. How could Griffin Technology release such an inferior product? Whatever the reason, they appear to have come to grips with the problem in time for the release of the iTrip nano. Here’s what they say:
The exclusive SmartSense volume control dynamically adjusts the iPod’s volume level for optimal audio quality. Also, users can control iTrip’s volume level through the iPod’s standard click wheel adjustment.
The second sentence does not apply to the version I bought, as the volume is completely disabled.
My own suspicion is that SmartSense control was initially released without being properly tested. Perhaps in a rush to market, they shipped the new iTrip with a feature that looked great on a whiteboard but was never tested on real users. And though they probably thought they were doing their customers a favour, the designers were actually negating the iTrip’s very raison d’etre - to play high-fidelity music over the radio.
If this is the case, then it is a lesson to us all. No matter how wonderful an idea sounds in theory, it’s always wise to test it before selling it to your customers. Ideally, test it as early as possible in the design cycle. That way, any flaws are uncovered while there is still time to make a change. Unfortunately for me, it appears Griffin Technology found out when it was already too late.
