unity-design team mailing list archive

[Martín Soto <donsoto@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 1:23 PM, Chow Loong Jin <hyperair@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I think listening to music while chatting is not rare at all. I do it, and
> many
> other people I know do the same. And considering how much noise was made
> over
> the one-application-rules-the-sound-card bug that existed prior to ALSA's
> dmix
> coming into the picture, I think it's not rare at all to have more than one
> application playing sounds at the same time.
>

Some people do listen to music while talking to someone else on the Internet
phone. I do it myself  on occasion, but I don't think this is so common,
though. The common case for simultaneous sound playback is a lot more
related with applications such as IM clients playing short sounds while
something else is playing in the background. People want to listen to music
and still be able to tell when an IM arrives.

I'd be exceptionally bothered if my sound was automatically paused in order
> to
> play notification sounds which appear every time someone sends me an
> instant
> message (think rapid succession from someone who types fast, which is not
> at all
> uncommon these days).
>

I guess almost everyone would be bothered in this case. This is the reason
why I wrote:

> The only "normal" situation
> I can think about where it makes sense to have sound mixed or
> superimposed is when notification sounds ("you have new mail") play on
> top of other sources. For this case, the volume of notifications should
> be made so that they're audible over the sound that is currently
> playing, which is something that probably can be achieved automatically
> anyway.

That is, notification-type sounds should be mixed with whatever else that is
playing. I think, however, that their volume can probably be selected
automatically in such a way that they are heard on top of the background.
This way we don't force people to fiddle with another volume slider in order
to hear their notifications.


> As for playing videos, keep in mind that not all videos have sound. When I
> watch
> a video that has no sound, I keep my music playing. When I watch a video
> that
> has no useful sound (stupid background music that annoys me), I mute my
> browser
> and keep my music playing. Such videos are pretty common on Youtube.
>

I bet most people won't bother to mute the video. Since most youtube videos
aren't longer than two or three minutes, they'll just endure the music if
they have to. So this is probably a rather advanced use case, but I may be
wrong.

> So, for example, if you're playing background music and want to watch
> that video you just got from your pal over IM, you'll probably pause the
> music. And if someone calls you over Skype when you're watching the
> video, you'll pause it before taking the call. Given that this is the
> case, a single volume slider should suffice.

 I have a habit of playing music (softly) while talking to friends on Skype
> due
> to my multitasking habits, and due to the fact that I can't really function
> properly without music playing.
>

Although I thing, as I said above, that this is not so common, it's still an
interesting use case. If I'm listening to music and a call arrives, for
example, I'd rather have the music paused automatically as soon as I take
the call.