“This video shows the concept of my final degree project done at the Umeå Institute of Design: a device to listen to Spotify at home.”

Spotify box from Jordi Parra on Vimeo.

The box comes with different color coded RFID tags that can be linked to point to certain music on Spotify. Once it is setup, place a tag on the device and it will play that playlist or search, remove it and it will stop. The two small buttons are used to skip to the previous and next track and the big wheel where the tags are placed rotates to control the volume.

The setup and the process of linking music to the tags is done on the computer. The device has no display, it will only certain information on a LED matrix hidden behind the pattern of the speaker when needed (low battery, not recognized tag, connection problems…).

The current setup uses an Arduino Pro Mini that controls Spotify on the computer via Processing and Applescript. It is a prototype and it does require a computer. The goal is now port the current prototype to an ARM processor and get rid of the computer so it becomes a completely standalone device.

If you want to know more about the project, there’s a quite detailed worklog and a vimeo album with more videos of previous prototype tests: blog.zenona.com.

This project was done with the feedback from Rasmus Andersson and Christian Wilsson from Spotify.

-Via Zenona