User-friendly interface

[Michael Skydancer]

I really wanted to like my Brennan B2 ... vast storage of my treasured CD collection; various sources; funky techno enthusiast's appearance ...

In all honesty, it's been a bit of a flat pancake.

In this post, I'm specifically referring to the UI. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to log in to a friend's Sonos setup. It was a different planet. Intuitive and responsive; everything where you expected it to be. Someone (probably several someones) had actually tested this product in real life conditions (as opposed to a tech workshop environment).

I really want to like my Brennan. But I have to admit that I'm struggling ...

[PMB]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the feedback. Some examples would be useful.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Patrick]

A perfect example is why, after all this time, upgrades and the v3 UI, does clicking on a track name bring up a prompt to rename the track? Who wants to rename the track by simply clicking on it? There is a perfectly useful menu (...) that includes the option to rename the track, which you have to do once if ever in the life of the track. Please eliminate this useless and completely unintuitive "feature".

Please add a play request queue like a jukebox. People have asked for this. I know playlists exist, but that's not the same thing. A queue would be great in an office environment.

Please add "never play" to tracks, so the brennan will not play a NSFW track randomly, but will allow it to be on a playlist, queue, or manually played. This is a feature I've had in other music jukebox type programs.

I love my B2s, but the UI is awful.

[Brian R]

Hi Patrick

To play a track you click on the little arrow to the left of the track title. Not the title itself.

Brian

[Patrick]

Yes, Brian, I know that. But clicking the title is a normal action someone might take, and editing the title is NOT an intuitive action to expect for clicking the title. The title should be inert if there's nothing useful to do with it, and it certainly shouldn't present a potentially detrimental action.

[Daniel Taylor]

I agree with Patrick.  I know full well that I should click on the arrow to play the track, but the filename is a much bigger target.  And renaming is not an everyday occurance.  Clicking on the track name should either play the track or do nothing.

The idea of a queue, as Patrick describes, would be a very useful feature.  Marking tracks, or albums, for never play, would also be nice.  As a former computer programmer, I know how easy this would be to implement.

[Les Stanley]

I agree with this and it's especially annoying if you're using the standard UI on a phone or tablet.

While we're on the subject of improvement features I'll just add the need for Random within an artist, which I've mentioned many times. Play recently added would be handy too.

[PMB]

Hi All,

All suggestions noted, thanks.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Michael Skydancer]

I'm really not wanting to harp on in a negative tone about the B2, but I do feel that I've unwittingly bought into an ongoing project, rather than a finely-tuned finished product. If I'd known that, I might have waited a while until all these (some quite significant) issues had been dealt with before making my purchase.

As someone has noted elsewhere, the UI really does need tightening up. Particularly on a phone or a tablet, the interface appears cramped and chaotic, is not entirely intuitive, and is often unresponsive. When will a full-blown app be launched?

Regarding the s/w updates, I hadn't realised this was going to be necessary until I started spotting references to them on this forum. Why can users not be notified of s/w updates via email, as is the case with every other tech manufacturer?

[SMG]

"I'm really not wanting to harp on in a negative tone about the B2, but I do feel that I've unwittingly bought into an ongoing project, rather than a finely-tuned finished product. If I'd known that, I might have waited a while until all these (some quite significant) issues had been dealt with before making my purchase.  As someone has noted elsewhere, the UI really does need tightening up. Particularly on a phone or a tablet, the interface appears cramped and chaotic, is not entirely intuitive, and is often unresponsive. When will a full-blown app be launched?  Regarding the s/w updates, I hadn't realized this was going to be necessary until I started spotting references to them on this forum. Why can't users not be notified of s/w updates via email, as is the case with every other tech manufacturer?"

I agree 100% and have been saying so ever since purchasing my B2 last year.  Although the B2 is apparently selling well, it is indeed an "ongoing product/project" by the manufacturer.  Its release seems to me to be premature.  There is little to nothing intuitive about the B2.  The UI is poor, and that's putting it mildly.  Indeed, the B2 is a tech product through and through and requires one to be highly tech savvy rather than just an ordinary user wanting to load tons of CDs onto a player.  If the original Mac computers had had as many problems as the B2 (some of which still go unresolved!), Apple would not be the company it is today and probably would not be around at all.  I receive email notifications every day of postings to this forum.  I see the same problems recurring over and over again.  I see solutions that are "suggested" rather than firmly offered as a REAL and workable solution.  This shouldn't be.  My B2 has had two SD card replacements, which I'm able to do myself quite easily and quickly.  But it's not so easy and simple for the average person.  Reliability is obviously not the B2's strong point.  And while this forum can be helpful to some, it's a far cry from a true and dedicated service desk.

- Steve    

[Rik]

I'm not at all tech savvy. 

I've had no problems with the B2. I like the UI and find it easy to use. Any questions I’ve found answered on the website. 

I understand you personally may have problems and find the forum not answering them satisfactorily but I honestly feel that it is unfair of you to be so condemnatory when so many of us love our B2.

[Keith Conrad]

I'm with Rik,

Did your auto from 30 years ago have back up cameras and collision avoidance,and could you play your phone through your dash board?  I had a Sony 400 disc cd player.  

What number was Brain Salad Surgery ?  Machine Head?  Geez, now I just say 'Play Long Distance Calling 'Into the Black Wide Open'.  No fumbling or turning dials.

I personally read the Quick Start Guide and whatever else I could before I ordered my B2.  That was four years ago, and it was one of the best 'kit' purchases I have ever made.  No fumbling or

turning dials.  I think we all had some type of glitch, but judging from what I have read on the forums, it was because users were not reading the instructions or menu, where most of the answers are.

I had a bigger issue navigating our new car audio menu than the B2.  If you take a minute, and look at it I think it is fairly straight forward.

I love my B2.

Keith Conrad

USA

 

[SMG]

"I'm not at all tech savvy.  I've had no problems with the B2.  I like the UI and find it easy to use.  Any questions I’ve found answered on the website.  I understand you personally may have problems and find the forum not answering them satisfactorily but I honestly feel that it is unfair of you to be so condemnatory when so many of us love our B2."

I sent 7 years of my adult work life, beginning in 1993, as Senior Project Designer for the then-emerging AOL and the Internet at large.  I observed many a focus group assembled specifically for the purpose of obtaining real-world feedback on navigation structures for both the AOL platform and the Web.  During my time with AOL I created navigation maps and content for companies large and small that wanted to have a strong presence within this new media.  I learned a great deal about the kinds of UI designs that work well  and the kind that don't work at all, bringing frustration to many a user.  During my time with AOL, the membership went from 250,000 to over 30 million.  Also during that time I also worked cooperatively with Apple, Microsoft, Oracle and other digital-era giants in our efforts to build an attractive, useful product.

This background during the crucial days of creating a usable and appealing Internet gives me the right to say:

The approach to the Brennan B2 UI violates many of the most basic guidelines, past and present, to digital interface development and digital product support.  I'm glad you like the UI and find it easy to use.  I wish EVERYONE could like the UI and would find it easy to use.  But that's simply not the case.  As this forum clearly indicates, I'm not the only one who has been critical of several aspects of the B2 product and its support.

- Steve 

[RichM]

I too worked in IT (quite a few on this forum I think) for a major financial institution including work on their online banking UI design, and have an appreciation of the effort and different skills required to build a good UI. I agree the B2 is not in that category and has its quirks and foibles which can frustrate. However, I can always achieve what I want to do and from the comfort of my armchair - no more scrabbling round on my hands and knees, so in the absence of a better solution, I think that I'll be sticking with it. I do think there needs to some push mechanism (or at least an email notification) for new UI and software versions.

[Clan]

you did a good job , I have been with AOL through various owners  since 1996 and still use the same  AOL e-mail address  , back then it was very easy to choose a very personal email address with your real name !   It must have been all those free AOL compact discs which saturated the market !

[SMG]

Thanks.  Oh, those compact discs!  Rare that I meet someone who remembers those days.  

When AOL became accessible via the Web ... sometime around the mid-90s I recall ... we took all those tons of leftover compact discs, broke them all up into small pieces and laid out and glued the pieces like tile on many of the conference room tables.  Looked pretty good!

- Steve

[Clan]

I was on dial up  for some time  from 1997 before broadband came in ,  I have those AOL cd's all over the place , in drawers , in the attic , in between the pages of old magazines :-)