Do you own an X5?

[sophie_hfe]

Hi,

I am doing a Usability Evaluation of iAudio X5 for Human Factors graduate class at San Jose State university, CA.

I am looking for X5 experienced users with whom I can talk over the phone/Skype about their opinion on the product. I am interested in ease of use of the product and not the sound quality.
It should take not more then 10 minutes.

If you are interested in sharing your opinion, please write me to sophie_hfe@yahoo.com

I appreciate any response [smile]

Thank you
Sophie

[doniago]

Just out of curiosity, couldn't you post your questions here and have people answer them without going through the hassle of a phonecall?

Honestly, this kind of post pings my Spam radar a bit (especially coming from someone who's never posted here before), but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

[sophie_hfe]

Well, thanks for your trust doniago :)

Unfortunatelly, I have to use the "interview method" for my class.

But then, yeh, I understand the suspicion, so I will just post my questions here and will have sort of a "virtual interview" :) I am still hoping to talk over the phone though...

So here are my questions. I will be gratefull to anyone that shares his usage experience of X5. You can either post your opinions here on send it to my email at sophie_hfe@yahoo.com:

1)Is there any particular thing that frustrates you the most in using the X5player?
2)What would you change in the device?
3)What features do you think are missing?
4)Are the controls conveniently located?
5)Would you add any controls?
6)Do you like the navigation?
7)Do you like the joystick?
8)Did you need to read the manual to understand how to operate the device? Have you read the manual?
9)Do you know that X5 enables the use of bookmarks? Do you know how to use this feature?
10)Do you know that you can read text files on X5?
11)What do you mainly use it for?
12)Would you buy it again?

If you have any other comments please feel free to share it.

Thanks
Sophie

P.S. I see that my post was moved to Other->OffTopic section, so I guess noone will ever find it there. Well, people are so suspicious these days that it makes me sad...

[Lighter]

P.S. I see that my post was moved to Other->OffTopic section, so I guess noone will ever find it there. Well, people are so suspicious these days that it makes me sad...

1) Location of the headphone and remote connection. Makes stuffing the X5 into a pocket a bit difficult and a bit risky.
2) X5 has been on the market a looooooong time. I'd change things to reflect progress made in DAP technology since the introduction. Mostly better screen and color.
3) I can't think of anything missing in terms of my expectations and daily usages.
4) Controls are OK for me in terms of locations. So long as I can one hand a device I'm happy.
5) I'd like a button that would shoot me directly to the root directory.
6) Navigation is mostly ok. But it seems to rely on my remembering the directory tree pretty accurately. When I know what and where, I'm fine with the navigation. When I have to search, then I seem to do a lot of clicking.
7) OK with joy stick. I don't much like touch controls on any device. I'd prefer an IBM sort of eraser-head control, but no one offers that.
8) Yes and yes. I know it's not popular to say; I haven't had issues with the manual.
9) Yes. No. Haven't thought of a use for a bookmark, so haven't learned how to use one.
10) Yes. But the tiny screen makes this something I don't do!
11) Music. 99% of the time. Occasionally a video if it's something I have to study away from better players.
12) Probably not. It's old in terms of DAP's. I'd take a look at everything out there just like I did when I choose the X5. On the other hand, I'm not looking nor particularly tempted.

I think the purple hatted fellow expressed my thought when I first hit your post. Yeah, it's sad that the world is host to folks who are creeps. Few, but they are out there and many creeps/spammers are very clever. It's hard to prove your truthfulness to a skeptical audience. Hard for you, hard for me - because of those few creeps.

Folks who sort the forum by "new posts" will see this thread as long as there are replies. Good luck with your survey.

[doniago]

"P.S. I see that my post was moved to Other->OffTopic section, so I guess noone will ever find it there. Well, people are so suspicious these days that it makes me sad..."

As Lighter said, anyone who looks at New Posts (I think most people do) will see this thread at least once.

It was moved to Off-Topic because, while you are discussing the X5, it would be a bit facetious to claim that this thread is really _about_ the X5 or could possibly help other people with it.

[sophie_hfe]

Lighter, thanks for your detailed reply :)

[afruff23]

1)Is there any particular thing that frustrates you the most in using the X5player? Converting videos for the X5 and joystick problems once in a blue moon.
2)What would you change in the device? I'd make a sturdier joystick which doesn't make a click sound and put a bigger screen, and allow it to play DivX movies of most resolutions.
3)What features do you think are missing? Id3-Tag browsing
4)Are the controls conveniently located? No, I'd rather have the joystick on the left side. The power button is also a little ahrd to use; it should be easier to turn it on.
5)Would you add any controls? Nope. Enough buttons as it is.
6)Do you like the navigation? It seems a bit inconsistent, buta fter a week you get used to it.
7)Do you like the joystick? YEs, but I wish it were sturdier and made no noise.
8)Did you need to read the manual to understand how to operate the device? Have you read the manual? I read the manual of anything I'm excited about if I can't use it at the moment. I read the manual another time to learn how to use synchronized lyrics.
9)Do you know that X5 enables the use of bookmarks? Do you know how to use this feature? Yes, I don't use bookmarks, but I know how to use it.
10)Do you know that you can read text files on X5? Yes.
11)What do you mainly use it for? Listening to music obviously.
12)Would you buy it again? That's a tough one, but I'd say yes ONLY because of Rockbox working good on it comapred to iPod units and the iriver H300 seems a bit bulky with a smaller battery installed. The new iPod prices are tempting, but Rockbox does not run as well on them as the X5.

[sophie_hfe]

afruff23, thank you too :)

[theundead]

Ok, here are my answers:

1)Is there any particular thing that frustrates you the most in using the X5player?

Yes, the slow file transfer ratio on USB OTG.

2)What would you change in the device?

Make the battery user replaceable.

3)What features do you think are missing?

Support for CUE files, gapless playback.

4)Are the controls conveniently located?

Yes, very.

5)Would you add any controls?

I would make the play button take you right back to the playing screen while in the menus or folders.

6)Do you like the navigation?

Yes, it's a lot better than ID3 browsing.

7)Do you like the joystick?

Yes, even if it's a bit flimsy.

8)Did you need to read the manual to understand how to operate the device? Have you read the manual?

I have read the manual, to make sure that I didn't miss anything...

9)Do you know that X5 enables the use of bookmarks? Do you know how to use this feature?

Yes, but I don't use it.

10)Do you know that you can read text files on X5?

Yes.

11)What do you mainly use it for?

Music music music... some file transfering, and some more music:)

12)Would you buy it again?

I'm thinking about getting a spare one in case i need to replace it one day, and they don't make a UMS new one...:)

If you have any other comments please feel free to share it.
- Well, too many... read my posts:)

Best of luck!

[kfrazier]

Hi Sophie,

Nice project you've got there. As a UI/interaction designer I find this kind of stuff fascinating, so I'm happy to help you out! Just a wild guess, but the "_hfe" on your username = human factors engineer?

Here are my answers:

1)Is there any particular thing that frustrates you the most in using the X5player?
- The speed of scrolling through menus or folders is too slow (that is, when I want to scroll down a list it does not scroll fast enough for me, which deters me from having a large number of subfolders in one folder).
- The "now playing" screen has way too much information taking up space, I don't really care about (such as the encoding info; I already know how my MP3s are encoded so I don't need to see it here). Although the UI allows me to customized this screen by removing the status bars, this isn't really what I want because I still want to see the battery and volume info, but these options disappear as well. *argh!*
- When the screen turns off during playback, I'd like an easy way to activate the screen so I can see what's playing (such as when a song changes), but without any settings changing as well. It seems like all the buttons will have some side effect which I don't want (such as turning the volume up). For comparison, the Rockbox UI (which I use now instead) has two settings which make me happy:
1) I can activate an automatic "activate the screen" on song changes, so I can glance over and see what's playing now
2) I can activate a setting which allows me to press any button to simply turn the screen back on without actually activating the button's effect.

EDIT: As Zeus's Uncle pointed out below, there IS a way to do this on the X5 original firmware - just felt I should point that out. However, I still would prefer an "easier" workaround to this; that is to say, I stand by my original complaint, I don't like the way it's currently done.

- Files are arranged alphabetically by ASCII code which is not human-intuitive, so I have "A-Z" followed by "a-z" instead of "Aa-Zz"... this is very irritating for me, and I don't want to rename my files just to satisfy this. If an artist wants to be referred to as "bLiNd" then I respect that, I don't want to change it.

2)What would you change in the device?
- See my answers to number 1, and
- Improve overall responsiveness of the UI. Compared to the iPod UI I've experienced, the X5 interface is painfully slow to navigate.
- Make it easier to shuffle all songs, or to shuffle all songs EXCEPT a certain genre (like audiobooks).
- Easy to replace battery.

3)What features do you think are missing?
- ID3 database feature
- AM radio (why only FM, I never understood... I'd like to listen to sports on AM radio, and I don't care about FM much anymore at all)

4)Are the controls conveniently located?
- For the most part. The power on/off slider is a little tricky to operate one-handed. I think if I was left-handed this thing would be awkward but I'm right-handed so it suits me fine, but maybe some accessibility issues there...

5)Would you add any controls?
- No, as it stands now I think there may be too many. I'm impressed by the iPod's clickwheel control and how it consolidates everything into a single control which is immediately intuitive to use.

6)Do you like the navigation?
- Like I said before, kinda slow, but in terms of navigating a folder hierarchy it is straightforward. Would like the option to have an ID3 (Album/Artist/Genre) hierarchy though.

7)Do you like the joystick?
- It's ok, but a little small and I'm always afraid it could break off such as when I put it in my pocket.

8)Did you need to read the manual to understand how to operate the device? Have you read the manual?
- For some of the features, yes I do need to read the manual. For example, to setup video playback. The conversion process on the computer is too involved so I never use this feature.
- I have read some of the manual but most of the features I "discovered" by playing around the menus on the X5 itself.

9)Do you know that X5 enables the use of bookmarks? Do you know how to use this feature?
- I am aware of this feature but not really sure what it does. I don't know how to use it and don't particularly care.

10)Do you know that you can read text files on X5?
- Yes, but I don't use this feature.

11)What do you mainly use it for?
- Music only. I don't use the video playback or FM radio or recorder. I listen at the gym and in my car mostly, and while studying or working sometimes.

12)Would you buy it again?
- No I don't think so. I used to like the added features and "customizability" but I don't use the extras and lately customizing is too time-consuming and I'm much shorter on time these days. To be honest, the whole iTunes+iPod experience of simple syncing and the simple iPod UI (I think the iPod UI is the best on the market right now in terms of ease of use), is starting to appeal to me.

Good luck on your project Sophie, I'd be curious to hear what your findings are!

[lancewex]

1)Is there any particular thing that frustrates you the most in using the X5player?

Yes. I don't like the way that files and folders are segregated. With a file limit in place some songs that aren't a part of an album can be difficult to find, since they are not listed alphabetically--rather after the folders.

2)What would you change in the device?

Make the battery user replaceable. Slightly larger screen and better video frame rate.

3)What features do you think are missing?

"Missing"? As in other players have? Maybe gapless playback, but I don't really think I miss it. Really, only the poor video requirements.

4)Are the controls conveniently located?

I think they are, but the joystick can be tricky. I'd prefer another means, but it's not a serious issue.

5)Would you add any controls?

I'll echo another reply: "I would make the play button take you right back to the playing screen while in the menus or folders."

6)Do you like the navigation?

I have no problems other than mentioned above.

7)Do you like the joystick?

Like? No. Hate? No. There are better ways.

8)Did you need to read the manual to understand how to operate the device? Have you read the manual?

I read the manual just to "get it" faster. I don't think it's complicated. All players have some learning curve.

9)Do you know that X5 enables the use of bookmarks? Do you know how to use this feature?

As I listen to recorded radio, books and podcasts I use bookmarks all the time.

10)Do you know that you can read text files on X5?

Yes, but rarely do.

11)What do you mainly use it for?

Music. Listening to recorded radio and podcasts. And live radio. Video sometimes.

12)Would you buy it again?

Absolutely. The battery life (X5L) and audio codec support by themselves make it superb.

[Zeus's Uncle]

- When the screen turns off during playback, I'd like an easy way to activate the screen so I can see what's playing (such as when a song changes), but without any settings changing as well. It seems like all the buttons will have some side effect which I don't want (such as turning the volume up). For comparison, the Rockbox UI (which I use now instead) has two settings which make me happy:
1) I can activate an automatic "activate the screen" on song changes, so I can glance over and see what's playing now
2) I can activate a setting which allows me to press any button to simply turn the screen back on without actually activating the button's effect.


No need to risk voiding your warranty to install rockbox for this, you can just use the switch that was designed for this very purpose. A quick flick of the power switch will toggle the screen's backlight. You can use that to turn it on during playback without any side effects, or to turn it off while it is charging.

[kfrazier]

"P.S. I see that my post was moved to Other->OffTopic section, so I guess noone will ever find it there. Well, people are so suspicious these days that it makes me sad..."

As Lighter said, anyone who looks at New Posts (I think most people do) will see this thread at least once.

It was moved to Off-Topic because, while you are discussing the X5, it would be a bit facetious to claim that this thread is really _about_ the X5 or could possibly help other people with it.

Maybe I'm just new here, but I was a little disappointed at this skepticism. Hear me out: Sophie isn't trying to "sell" anything really, I don't understand the "spam" suspicion... How is this thread so different from others who post about their experiences with the X5? I might not have found this thread at all except that I happened to scroll way down the page by mistake (I don't look for the "new" posts, I usually look ONLY in the X5 forum itself). Anyway, I hope Sophie has some luck on this, it's not all that easy to find X5 users...

Also, for what it's worth... To say that this thread isn't about the X5 or couldn't possible help others with it I think is erroneous. What else is this thread about? It's about the X5 and the user experience with it. And I think it definitely COULD help others, because how many people in fact start threads to say "I'm thinking of buying an X5, please tell me what you think of yours" - isn't that what this thread is about, only in a more formal format? I know that when I was thinking about buying my X5, those kinds of threads where people talked about their experiences with the device - especially those concerning their user experience - were invaluable for me. To say that this thread couldn't possibly be helpful to others is a tad insulting, IMHO.

Lastly, I would think that "off-topic" forum would be for things like "What do you think of the UCLA game this weekend?" or something else not relevant to iAudio products... I mean, isn't a discussion about the X5 something that is very much on-topic for this kind of community? [confused]

I'm sorry I don't mean to challenge your authority as a mod or anything, but I just don't understand the rationale that's all. I hope you can read my comments above with a tone of genuine concern and not a need to be defiant or anything; I'm simply voicing my opinion in as best a spirit possible! [smile]

At the end of the day, it's your call. Thanks for hearing me out.

[kfrazier]

No need to risk voiding your warranty to install rockbox for this, you can just use the switch that was designed for this very purpose. A quick flick of the power switch will toggle the screen's backlight. You can use that to turn it on during playback without any side effects, or to turn it off while it is charging.

Thanks for the tip. I have noticed that works before, but when I drive my car, the position of that switch is just a little awkward to reach so it's a tad inconvenient. Also I'm afraid of overusing/abusing that switch, it seems kinda flimsy and I'm afraid it might wear out. [wink]

Aside from that... I've had my X5 over a year so the warranty issue is moot. I DO appreciate your concern though, very thoughtful of you! [yes]

[Zeus's Uncle]

I dunno, I think it's fine here. It's not really about the X5, it's about her project, which happens to be a survey of X5 users. The X5 forum is for, well posts about the X5, not filling out forms for someone's college project. It looks like spam when it's the first and only post by a user and it is asking for people to send personal information to some email address.

[Zeus's Uncle]

Thanks for the tip. I have noticed that works before, but when I drive my car, the position of that switch is just a little awkward to reach so it's a tad inconvenient. Also I'm afraid of overusing/abusing that switch, it seems kinda flimsy and I'm afraid it might wear out. [wink]

Aside from that... I've had my X5 over a year so the warranty issue is moot. I DO appreciate your concern though, very thoughtful of you! [yes]

That's cool that you don't have to worry about voiding your warranty, but the original post implied that there was no button that could toggle the screen without a side effect, hence I provided the correction for you and anyone else who would like to do such a thing.

[kfrazier]

Fair enough Zeus's Uncle! Edited my response to Sophie's survey to point that out. [wink]

Oh, and Sophie might find some added insight in the X7 poll thread, in which people have posted what they like about the X5, what they might change, etc:

http://www.iaudiophile.net/forums/showthread.php?p=102612

[sophie_hfe]

Thanks guys for your help :)

kfrazier, thanks a lot for the link to X7 poll, it definitely has a lot of valuable information for me. And, yes, you noticed correctly - '_hfe' stands for "Human Factors and Ergonomics" - this is what I am studying. Not many people are familiar with this field, but you, being a UI/Interaction engineer probably know about it :)