We don't have to restrict ourselves to thinking about only an MP3 player. We’re making a “music player” and that is pretty broad. Talking to Omar about his desire for simple and continuous background music made me think about satellite radio. It has a huge selection of genres and options, it’s commercial free, and once you turn it on you don’t have to bother with it until you want to shut it off—no hassle of changing CD, playlists, etc. Even if we don’t do an exclusively radio based product it might be a good idea to consider if radio is just another type of playlist—a continuous one.

I was thinking about what form the interaction might take. I know that Omar has lots of things sitting around his house like antique bottles. These items sit on shelves for display and don’t currently serve a purpose. What if they could still be display items but have a hidden functionality to them?

For example what if the interaction took place in the form of:

* A shelf where moving a bottle around changed station from smooth music to loud or 50s to current.
* A thermostat like dial on the wall.
* A coat rack that changed the music based on where you put your hat.
* A vase of fake flowers where rearranging them changed the music. (I like this one, think of how rich that interaction is! Could be very cool.)