Building on the current craze for wearable fitness products, Michele Tittarelli has designed an mp3 player with a gaming bent. The wearable personal trainer/MP3 player shares music with passersby by infecting their playlist with their own music.
The music virus is determined to be either “good” vs “bad” if its BPM (beats per minute) can help the user achieve his set goal. If a user comes within range of a “good” virus, the two songs are mixed. The current prototype wirelessly transmits data via Xbee to Max/MSP.
The user can also choose to brush (not accept) the song.
The wearable Mp3 player comes in three training modes, Fun, Fun+, and Sport, which increase the daily goals of the week.
The design of the wearable appears to be largely inspired by the structure of human muscles and ligaments.
I do love the idea of serendipitously sharing music with strangers but I don’t quite understand the value proposition in the particular context of fitness. How would someone else’s music genuinely motivate the user — why not just use a song from his own playlist?
Lastly, why is this project not just an app? Why develop a wearable? With wearable technology products, designers need to consider whether there is enough value in their product to develop an expensive wearable or whether they can use the technology available to them in mobile phones and simply create an app. I know, I know…apps aren’t as much fun ?
In short, taken out of the fitness context, and aligned more with a social gaming context/event experience, I feel this project could have some merit.
