Searching for music: How feedback and input-control change the way we search

Abstract. The growing amount of digital music available at desktop computers and portable media players increases the need for interfaces that facilitate efficient music navigation. Search patterns are quantified and evaluated across types of feedback and input controllers in an experiment with 12 participants. The way music is searched and the subjective factors varied significantly across input device and type of audio feedback. However, no difference in task completion time was found for the evaluated interfaces. Based on the experiments, we propose several ways in which future designs may improve searching and browsing in recorded music.