A Context Aware Music Player: A Tangible Approach

In this paper we explore new ways of interacting to configure and personalize music selection in ambient environments. We propose a prototype for a context aware music player and a novel interaction concept to deal with it. Context information refers in this work both to the user, especially the mood situation, and the environment. The interaction concept lets the user express information about the mood and the current activity in a subtle way and customize the system to music preferences. This is achieved by using sensors to capture the environment data and a tangible user interface to enter and modify the context information related to the user. In usability tests of the prototype and in analysis of the interviews we conducted with test users we found out that customization options and making autonomous decisions transparent are two key factors to enhance user experience in context aware music systems.