LuisterPaal: Listening booth Facility*  


Project description:

The LuisterPaal interface is a listening booth facility, which enable users visiting a music store to listen to music. In order to facilitate interactions with the system, the self-service LuisterPaal interface uses a scanner (barcode reader) and a touchscreen. The barcode reader facilitates the searching mechanism for the user, while the touchscreen is a finger selection technology that makes the interaction with the system more reliable. Music selection is simplified to the scanning of the barcode of a given album, therefore, the entry to the database is achieved via the unique barcodes of the albums. From the implementation point of view the LuisterPaal does not differ much from the MegaStore concept. Its user-friendly interface is based on the use of (1) a database catalog holding the Album‘s information (e.g. titles, duration, artists) and (2) a multimedia database server holding the real audio/video clips for each album.

The LuisterPaal system is simple to use and very advance regarding the functionslities it provides. It consists of a very friendly user interface, where a user can simply scan the barcode of a CD and follow a real interaction with the system. The barcode scanning is realized via a fixed barcode reader (scanner) attached to the touchscreen. The barcode reader and touchscreen are mandatory for simplicity reason; the system also runs on a PC with a normal keyboard and mouse.

Within the LuisterPaal system, the user in a music store can grab a case of a CD and scans its barcode to the system. At the music stores, instead of using the case of a CD to scan the barcode, the availability of simple catalogs for Albums including barcode‘s specification provides a more convenient solution. When a user enters the barcode of an Album, the system connects to the database catalog, extracts the necessary information to be browsed to the user on the screen, and launches the audio/video streams to be played on-line. At any time during the listening process, the user can introduce the barcode of a new Album or freely interact within the audio/video clips of the album. Figure 1 shows three screens of the LuisterPaal interface. As depicted in the figures, the user can do the most audio/video operating functions (e.g. play, stop, pause, play next, play previous, play first, and play last).


Fiure 1: LuisterPaal User Interface

The LuisterPaal interface provides the following benefits and advantages:

  • Very simple interface in which, a user has only to scan the barcode of an album, the rest is automatically done by the system,
  • Flexible interface based on a large collection of music data stored in a database catalog,
  • Support for video clips to be played on the screen,
  • Audio/video data streaming are fetched on-line from the multimedia database server,
  • Interactive system in which, a user can freely navigate across albums and titles, using specialized hardware devices (barcode reader and touchscreen),
  • Unlike existing kiosks, in which a listing point is requested for each album, a single LuisterPaal interface is linked to the totality of albums within the database catalog.
  • Most users in music stores are not aware on how to make complex queries based on keywords. Thus, The use of a barcode reader and a touchscreen facilitate the user interaction with the system,
  • The LuisterPaal approaches reduce the costs and efforts in making such facilities for ordinary users. The estimated costs and efforts are limited to the development of the database catalog and the set-up of the interface.
  • The use of database standards and middleware solutions during the implementation of such a system eases its extension and makes it reusable.

References

  • A. Benabdelkader. Information Integration among Heterogeneous and Autonomous Applications, Chapter 4, section 7. ISBN: 90-5776-093-2, Febo Druk, Enschede, 2002. (Thesis 2,512KB).

  • A. Benabdelkader, H. Afsarmanesh, L. O. Hertzberger. MegaStore: Advanced Internet-based Electronic Commerce Service for Music Industry. In proceedings of 11th IEEE International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications - DEXA'2000, Pages 869-878, London - Greenwich, United Kingdom, 2000.

  • A. Benabdelkader, H. Afsarmanesh, R. Schut, and L.O. Hertzberger. e-MegaStore concept for current music stores models: Free RecordShop, LuisterPaal, and Sheet Music. Poster in ICT KennisCongress, Den Haag, The Netherlands, September 2001.

Contact person

  • Ammar Benabdelkader ammar@science.uva.nl

Project members

  1. University of Amsterdam
    • Ammar Benabdelkader
    • Hamideh Afsarmanesh
    • Bob Hertzberger
  2. The Frame Holding BV
    • Jan Willem Clinge Doorenbos
  3. International Music Consortium BV
    • Frank Geerdes
* The LuisterPaal interface is a joined project between the University of Amsterdam, Power Computing and Communication PCC - UvA, Free RecordShop NL, and Siemens Nixdorf.