[throwaway_pdp09]

> The benchmarking shows nearly every company is moving to screens

You're confusing a benchmark with... something else. And I really dislike my new-ish MP3 player with it's damn screen that I have to keep looking at to operate, to do anything.

> And if your car doesn't have all the features

My MP3 player has a ton of features and I don't need 90% of them. I want it to do one job well - play my music and a few other basic controls, just like my old, physically-operated MP3 player did. I don't want awesome UX/UI bullshit to get in the way, I just want it to do its job.

(plz excuse rant)

[cryptonector]

Idk why you got downvoted. You're absolutely right.

[Fogest]

That's your opinion and an old-school one at that. The vast majority of customers do not want something that basic.

[BeetleB]

While your comment is valid to the the person you responded to, consider:

My older car with no touch screen has a custom stereo installed - everything with physical buttons. And it can do more than my other car with a touchscreen. Its Bluetooth capabilities are superior. I can set it not to auto-play, etc.

Yes, no need to go old school. But no, you don't need a touchscreen to get a radio/stereo with better features.

[throwaway_pdp09]

I think we agree. I'm not against newer, I'm against worse.

[throwaway_pdp09]

That is my opinion which is why I kept on saying "I". I see nothing wrong at all with 'old-school'. There are too many self proclaimed UI/UX "experts" who keep screwing things up for people (edit: I'll restate that: fucking over their users). I only want what works.

> The vast majority of customers do not want something that basic.

And you accuse me of 'opinion'. Well, provide evidence of this claim.

[filoleg]

This. There will always be a niche of people who want barebones single-purpose old-school experience out of any given device.

Goes for literally anything, from cars to phones to music equipment. I definitely fall into this category for some of the things myself. However, it is important to remember that this is not representative at all of what the majority prefers.

[throwaway_pdp09]

This is a better post than its parent, and in some cases, sure I agree. I can't argue with someone who wants the new & shiny, if it works for them, great. But it's being pushed on us so such luddites as myself have no choice any more - it's all touchscreens now. It's become marketing driven. The choice is gone.

> this is not representative at all of what the majority prefers

I was very careful to not to project my desires on others in my original post, but you're telling me about what "majority prefers". So back this up. I don't think you can.

[filoleg]

>you're telling me about what "majority prefers". So back this up.

Do you see dedicated single-purpose barebones MP3 players having a high demand? Or do people just use their smartphones for that purpose? When you walk into a room and ask people if they would find an MP3 player device useful and would like to get one, what answer do you expect to hear?

Also, try asking the same question from people about smartphones vs. single-purpose cellphones. Yes, there is obviously a niche of people who want to "disconnect" and not have to deal with smartphones. But they are in a tiny minority.

While market isn't a perfect representation of what people want, it is a great proxy, in a lot of cases. And for this situation specifically, it looks like the market has clearly expressed what consumers want.

[throwaway_pdp09]

I asked you to back this up with actual figures. Please do so. Now...

> Do you see dedicated single-purpose barebones MP3 players having a high demand?

I can't buy them. When I looked for a new one, there was none available I could find. I did ring the companies too. There's no choice so actual demand is difficult to ascertain.

Smartphones... OK, that's a good point.

> what answer do you expect to hear?

Irrelevant - give me figures, not asking what I expect to get. Facts please. And if you read the comments here, there's quite a few expressing preference for physical controls.

> But they [non-smartphone users] are in a tiny minority.

A minority or a tiny minority? Give me figures please. Don't just talk at me, throwing words around. Facts please. And BTW I'm one of these minorities. FYI.

> it looks like the market has clearly expressed what consumers want

What's your job?

[filoleg]

>What's your job?

It is on my HN profile, I write code for living.

>Facts please.

The fact that you called up a bunch of companies, and none of them were producing dedicated barebones MP3 players, kind of speaks for itself. If there was a significant demand, why wouldn't they jump on this easy money-making opportunity, given that they would have pretty much no competitors?

>give me figures, not asking what I expect to get.

I don't have numbers, and neither do you. In the absence of actual numbers, anecdotal evidence is the second best thing. Do you have anecdotal evidence of talking to an average person and asking whether they would be willing to pay for a dedicated MP3 player? I do, which is why I asked you to imagine how that scenario would play out in real life.

If your scenario played out the opposite of mine, then we would be at a stall, as anecdotal evidence is nothing against opposing anecdotal evidence, only factual numeric evidence can beat anecdotal evidence. But if it played out the same, I feel like it would only act in support of my hypothesis.

I can also bring out hard factual numbers for the sales numbers of dedicated MP3 players going down as smartphone proliferation increased, if you want, but you probably already know how those numbers look.