I look forward to Rob and Hugo's feedback on the two-piece faceplate suggestion; it seems to have some potential as it solves a host of small aesthetic issues that people have mentioned and it probably doesn't have too many design impacts...

I dunno, after posting that picture, I've been thinking about it a bit. Sure, a two-piece design would work. But Hugo's probably already hashed through similar ideas, and much more carefully than we just did. Rob's original statement on the subject seemed to indicate that they had some options ready to implement if they chose to do it.

I'll bet that if they really wanted to make a molded face, it'd probably be much more cost-effective in the long run to create a proper one-piece unit from scratch instead of trying to modify the clear plastic panel's design to accept a snap-on addition. It's just that, being a Mk1 owner, I like the idea of being able to get the new display board and face when they become available, and a proper redesign would probably make the mounting points incompatible with my unit. Really, if you think about it, the only reason for a two-piece design would be to maintain Mk1 compatibility, and that's probably not something we should realistically expect.

And, as I've said before, I like the simplicity of the current Mk1 design just fine. I only drew up those pictures to help us visualize what a molded faceplate might look like.

And in any case, a molded face would probably push back the release of the Mk2's even further, and that's something that no one wants.

But what about Rob's original question: "How many of you would really like a stylish moulded front panel, how many wouldn't care and how many would prefer the current flat panel? Would it affect your decision to purchase a player?"

Now that we've seen one (admittedly pie-in-the-sky) idea of what it might look like, what would your (everyone's) answer to that question be?

My answer is: I would really like a stylish molded front panel. I am happy with my current unit, but I know that a stylish front panel would make it look more attractive to the general public. I like the plain, futuristic simplicity of the current one, but if both options were placed in front of me, I would choose the molded one over the flat one immediately.

It wouldn't affect my decision to purchase a player, but other people are a lot more superficial than I am. Many people buy things just for looks. Why else would companies like Blaupunkt and JVC be making gaudy units with colors so bright that they induce seizures when viewed for too long? My wife has a Nokia cellular phone which works on exactly that principle: It has a snap-on face that allows her to switch colors. It was a major selling point with her. She switches the colors to coordinate with her wardrobe. People buy cars based on looks rather than performance or economy. People buy furniture based on looks rather than comfort. Pagers come in bright, gaudy colors... pagers for goodness sake, something that was originally meant to hide in your pocket all the time. Oh, and have you looked at car amplifiers lately? They come in all sorts of bright, stylish colors to impress your friends or to show off at competitions. I just bought a subwoofer amplifier that's completely hidden away in my trunk, and yet its logo lights up in the neatest shade of electric blue. You can never see the logo, but if you could, it sure would be pretty. There's a new line of car speakers out that have bright red cones. It's not enough in the audio industry just to sound good any more, now you have to look good, too.

Actually, I think it's because, as a civilization, we've reached a stage of sophistication where the basic technology doesn't impress us like it used to. It's like Douglas Adams wrote:

The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question "How can we eat?", the second by the question "Why do we eat?", and the third by the question "Where shall we have lunch?"

I think we've reached the third level when it comes to technology products.



-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.