Re: [Usability] Category Management (i.e. Rhythmbox Music Player)

[Kirk Bridger <kbridger shaw ca>]

I certainly understand the differences and I don't pretend to think that 
they're not both useful.  What I don't get is how the use cases of a 
music player need browsing.  Maybe I have so many titles I stopped 
browsing a long time ago and only use directed searches now to find 
things, but I'd love to hear some scenarios or use cases for browsing.

I tried using Exaile and they have the tree interface for browsing, 
which I ended up finding more frustrating than anything.

Searching use cases I can think of:

1 - play specific song/album/artist
2 - create playlist of specific songs
3 - check details of specific file

It sounds like there's something I'm missing about what tasks the user 
would be doing where browsing provides the best interface.  In terms of 
an aggregator - I find browsing in that sense useful only when I don't 
know what I have to browse.  The feeds are giving me things I don't 
already have.  Browsing my music collection won't have me discovering 
new songs because I already know what's in my collection.

Unless we're looking at some interface to other people's songs, or a 
discovery-type use case?

Thanks for helping me understand,

Kirk



Jacob Beauregard wrote:
> I thought I had differentiated searching vs. browsing, but I'll give 
> it another go:
>
> Think of the different reasons you'd use an aggregator (del.icio.us, 
> digg, reddit, slashdot aggregators) as opposed to using a search 
> engine (google, yahoo, live searches).
>
> In essence, searching is active, requiring direct input from the user.
> Meanwhile, browsing is passive, requiring no direct input from the user.
>
> Each one takes a different mindset because searching has a narrow 
> focus and browsing has a contextual focus. As a result, they are very 
> different experiences.
>
> Here's a brief article that notes some differences.
> http://powazek.com/2005/01/000484.html
>
> What I'm trying to get at is that both are useful, but they don't have 
> the same reasons for being useful (i.e. search capabilities do not 
> void the need for browsing capabilities).
>
> Kirk Bridger wrote:
> > There is obviously a lot of thought behind these comments, but I 
> > really am confused as to what the actual use case here is. What does 
> > the user want to do that searching doesn't accomplish?
> >
> > Sorry to appear so daft, but it feels like I would like to contribute 
> > but am just not grasping what the problem and use case are.
> >
> > Kirk
> >
> >
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