Amarok/Archives/VisionCreation

This page was used to collect ideas relevant for the vision for Amarok. It has since been created.

now (status March 2011)

What is happening in the world external to Amarok that may impact our work?

• computing is becoming ubiquitous
  • decline of desktops
  • move to mobile devices
  • 2011 is the year of the tablet, and tablets are probably here to stay
  • streaming music services are more ubiquitous, and no longer all free
  • users have more and more sources of music (local, remote, ...)
• backend and other supporting software is changing or disappearing (HAL)
• mp3 stores are mostly DRM-free
• increasing amounts of (free) music available
• move to QML
• number of music player protocols becoming less? (Can we scale back efforts here?)

What trends are occurring that may affect the needs, expectations, and desires of key stakeholders (e.g., contributors, upstream, downstream, etc.)

• computing is becoming ubiquitious
  • move to mobile devices
  • moving music to the cloud
    • streaming services like Spotify, MOG, grooveshark make listening to music easy, cheap, with low overhead. For <$10 a month I can listen to whatever I want wherever I want.
• net is becoming more social - so is music on the net
• in spite of the above, Last.fm doesn't seem to be growing
• willingness to pay artists directly instead of giving a large share to music labels or pirating the music completely (flattr?)
• app stores popping up
• simplicity and usability
• instant gratification

What are other projects doing or considering doing to prepare themselves for the future?

• providing music purchases inside the player - shop integration
• vendor lock-in to keep customers
• coupling hardware and software
• allowing easy coding of add-ons
• integrating player controls into the desktop
• integrating a large number of social/web services
• allowing to share music with a group of friends

What are the core values and beliefs for how contributions should be done that will not be compromised?

• libre
• gratis?
• open
• welcoming new contributors, and new ideas
• still a KDE project

the future

What is Amarok's reputation? What is it known for?

• Amarok brand still highly coupled to KDE but it is known that Amarok can be run anywhere else as well
• power with simplicity
• provides lots of context information
• not the best for someone who just wants to listen to a song or two every now and then
• plays whatever music is right at the moment
• best of breed
• helps rediscover music in the large amount each user has access to
• service and social feature integration integration

What do competitors and coopetition respect and envy the most?

• pre-eminent KDE music app
• serious music lovers want to use Amarok if possible
• do we still mostly ignore the competition? we sometimes refer folks to other players which will better meet their needs
• our brand
• portability

How and where are contributors doing work and interacting with users?

• Remotely via the internet
• On IRC, mailing lists, forums, wiki, denting, tweeting, blogs
• Amarok Insider
• Handbook
• Globally distributed teams: Europe and America
• attending FLOSS events, wearing our Amarok gear, and sometimes even staffing Amarok booths
• office?
• close contact to the team possible for every user

What is the user's experience?

• still rediscovering music
• discovering music again that was forgotten in the large pool of files
• able to handle music from a lot of different sources in the same application
• "Amarok is magic - it is playing exactly what I like"
• Who are Our Users: User Profiles

What major contributions have been made to the communities contributed to?

• inclusion of more context information than other players
• promoting free culture by allowing the user to discover great free culture work
• making people happy through music
• advancement of Free Software

What are contributors saying to their closest friends and family about what it is like to contribute to Amarok?

• fun
• great to hang out with other music lovers
• team are responsive, intelligent, interesting people to work with
• Amarok is awesome
• social/travel opportunities for active contributors
• opportunity to learn
• productive
• innovative

What new ideas, businesses or ventures have been pursued?

(By Amarok or outsiders? Ramblurr both Nightrose)

• GSoC students have provided major code initiatives, and new members to the developer team
• GCI provided new energy and contributions to the Documentation team, and bug triage
• more music stores integrated
• more university projects
• more collaboration with free culture artists and labels
• Amarok on devices (smart phones, juke box,...)

What is going on in the market place?

• restructuring in the music business landscape
• free music is clustering in distribution sites specializing in genres such as folk, covers, experimental, etc.
• streaming stations still shaking out
• commercial CD distribution consolidated on very few sites
• we have Amarok by default on devices -> small jukebox in the store next door, tablet pc, ...

How are contributors interacting with users? How are services being provided?

• Interaction is via IRC, mailing lists, bugzilla, forums, blogs, denting, tweeting, the Insider
• Handbook
• Services provided via the same mediums as well as regular updates to the software addressing users' issues
• blogging and denting about Amarok have provided our users with both technical and new feature information

What is the mood of the team?

There have been some tensions between team members in the past. More communication might help, but some disagreements are bound to happen in a fast-paced project. In general, team members confront one another openly, rather than gossiping, which means issues can be resolved. Overall, the team is a wonderful group to be part of. The IRC channels are positive; full of smart, funny people. - valorie

What are contributors, users and other stakeholders experiencing and feeling?

• new contributors feel welcome, and appreciated
• long-time contributors have created friendships within the team, and still enjoy hacking on Amarok
• it is possible for some to make a living contributing to Amarok
• contributors find that their experience on the Amarok team also enriches their professional life
• Amarok is a joy to use because it has been made easier and more intuitive
• some users will use Amarok without knowing it is Amarok
• experiencing any music anywhere, anytime