A Music Player for the Visually Impaired. The application is to be developed using both the Android and the iPhone platforms. Although the initial thought was to create a generic Music Player for a mobile application, it was later decided to integrate additional features so that people with special needs can make use of the basic features of the application. The targeted audience (other than the youth) will include drivers, who can use the application while driving; people with mobility issues such as paralysis and, most importantly, this application is meant for people with visual impairments. In other words, this application is meant to be an extension of any ordinary music player to address the issues of the minority as well.
When it comes to a music player there are probably numerous, probably uncountable, applications in both Android and iPhone. ‘Pandora’ and ‘Ocarina’ are some examples for media players in iPhone platform. Android also released Media players like ‘Winamp’ and ‘MixZing’ with more interesting features. However, when considering applications intended to meet these special requirements, the Android App Store advertised one such application by the name ‘My Blind Tunes’ with an average user rating of 4.0. The application has integrated voice commands for drivers, blind and podcast users. Features of this player include playing folders, sub folders, playlists; entering commands by voice recognition and support for Bluetooth transfers. However, this application is more directed towards the voice features. There are other similar mobile applications like the ‘Voice Action Music Launcher’, ‘Voice Action Music Player’ and ‘Speaking Media’ in the Android market. The application proposed will try to create an all-in-one music player providing equal preference to the basic features as well as voice recognition abilities.
BASIC FEATURES THAT ARE PROPOSED TO BE INCLUDED IN THE MUSIC PLAYER
These are the most fundamental features that will be instilled into the player. These are the features that will address the generic target audience.
- Add or remove .mp3 files to play
- Move to next or previous song
- Slider to point the song’s position in respect to time
- Multiple visualization options
- Sort playlist ascending or descending order of title
- Volume control and mute or un-mute options
- Song duration and timer display and total duration of all selected songs
- Shuffle playlist and turn shuffle on or off
- Turn repeat mode on or off when playback finished
- Load and save playlist
- Screen controls (half size, normal size, full screen)
- Slow/ normal and fast play speed controls
- Display meta data (e.g. album, artist, year) on screen while playing
- Hear the album, artist, duration of the song read aloud before playing the song (if used by visually impaired or on request)
POTENTIAL ADDITIONAL FEATURES
These are certain additional features that will be added to the application to cater to the needs of the special audience.
- Album art display (i.e. if the song has an album image to display it)
- Transfer the song to a friend via Bluetooth
- Download the song lyrics
- Share song lyrics on Facebook/Twitter/Google+
- Check for latest songs of a selected artist
- Hear selected options read aloud with a Narrator
- Integrate voice based command inputs (e.g. play, pause)
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