Evaluating a Potentiometer-Based Graphical User Interface for Interacting with a Music Recommendation Service

This paper studies the idea of using potentiometers as a graphical user interface for interacting with a music recommendation service. In the implemented prototype, the user selects a musical genre and adjusts tempo and energy level potentiometers to fine-tune the playlist of new music recommendations. The look of the interface is changed to reflect the currently selected genre. In a user study with 40 participants, the idea of using potentiometers to access music collections was found to be suitable for discovering new music and to complement traditional music player applications. The prototype was seen to be easy to use and entertaining, and the graphical designs matched well with the musical genres. In the longer-term use, the prototype was slightly too simple and it would have benefited from e.g. text-based search functionality. Several other interesting ideas for the future development of the concept were also received.