digital collection

So, I decided to take it upon myself to fix my Sansa Clip. I like working in constraints , but I have a job and its easier to go out and buy something (taking probably an hour or so) versus just sitting down taking whatever the thing is apart and trying to fix it myself. So being constrained by money was lost to me and versus doing the natural thing I would usually do, take it apart and rebuild it, I went out and bought a new Sansa Clip. But, I decided that it would be worthwhile and more educational to take the Clip apart and analyze the design and comment on its innards. Working in constraints is  good practice.

Tools to break in there.

The sugery:

I used an Xacto Knife, Tape, and a Strip of paper. Start from the top of the clip (near the USB insert and Headphone Jack) and work your way to the bottom. My X-acto is sharp so the blade of the knife would cut into the plastic. I would advise using a flat head screw driver unless you don’t mind your clip have a ruff degraded top edge.

Clip Anatomy:

The Clip is held apart by two clips about 2/3 down the way of  the Selector circles. I was impressed by Sansa’s design team for making this bolt less design. This design saves time and money in the production process. Also when people like me go and tinker around we don’t have to go to the store to find the world’s smallest philips head. When reattaching the clip together make sure these clips snap back in place. I found that the power clip kept falling off, I simply taped it into place and when I got the two ends on a place I felt comfortable with I removed the tape.

Clip Innards and the Problem Circled

Now if your Clip’s problem was like my Clip’s problem, your headphone jack only works when wiggled at a certain angle, it probably means a part of the headphone jack chip has lost contact with another part of the chip. You can either solder these two points together again at this point or find some way to keep this connection between the two points. Be sure to plug in your headphones so you can hear and observe what happens when you have sound. I found that a corner piece had lost contact, but your problem could be different. I basically measured the headphone jack and found it to be 1/2 of an inch wide. Then I rolled out about 2 inches of paper, mitered it (cutting into it very lightly with the x-acto to get very precise folds) every 1/2 inch and stuck it on stop of the headphone jack. Therefore, when I put the beveled back of the Clip back on, the paper would have pressure exerted on it from the back pressing these two pieces together again. Becareful though, if you cut your paper too big the Clip may not close.

Suggestion Spot

Now if Sandisk and the Sansa design team wanted to fix this problem they could add a rectangle of plastic above the headphone jack to ensure that the headphone jack will not wiggle as much and the life time of the product would be longer. But then the question becomes ethical, as a maker of this small MP3 player and because it is priced so cheaply (I got mine for 20 dollars) they may design with the ability for the clip to NEED to be replaced every year or two. This way the clip becomes a virtual subscription of mechanics. I think this is ethically wrong in the sense that my clip may end up being thrown away and never reused. So if my clip was reused or if I could mail my Clip back to Sansa and they could give me some kind of Manufacturer Coupon or something similar I would buy more into the subscription model their design creates. But also I am not sure how the Sansa design team tested the clip. I have had my clip for about a year now and it still works flawlessly minus the mechanical failure.

I want to analyze the design of the volume jack and the power jack. The volume jack as a functional entity is pressed on the top or bottom to increase or decrease volume, and the power jack as a functional entity slides up and down to turn the clip on, off, and put the Clip in the “Hold” mode. The power jack has a little connection to the “Hold on” to the slider, and the volume jack has a molded out of a flat shape design, so that the volume jack “hangs on” to the cover of the clip. I also liked how the volume jack was 1.5 times larger than the power jack.  I am still trying to figure out why Sansa chose the design they did for the volume jack. It is smart, as on the back of the volume jack it has two plus signs to make contact with the increase volume or decrease volume. For the Clip+ the Sansa design team has reduced the size of  volume jack to about an inch and has reduced the power jack to a small circle and instead of the power jack being across from the volume jack it is now more diagonal.  If I were to design the clip I would get rid of the power button all together, and use the main selector circle as the power button, put the headphone jack on top and increase the size of the volume jack (the Clip’s volume jack is currently on the left side of the player, meaning left handers like me will have to use our thumbs to change the volume of the clip.) I think to fix this function would need to “unify” the design and put the volume jack on top or on the front of the player so that it becomes the same using it from either direction.

That’s all for now.

At first Sylvain Chauveau’s Singular Forms sounded mediocre and almost empty to me. Imagine going to a restaurant ordering the most expensive meal on the menu and being served a pretzel on a very large plate. Working from the minimalist electronic canvas creates the vision that he, Sylvain, is singing a song produced and released moments before Earth’s destruction.  Why this image of destruction? Our symbols, our histories, our meanings, all gone because of the constriction imposed by the minimalist canvas. Using the sounds that are entangled with our environment, taking these sounds apart, exposing them for what they are, and throwing them away.

I had to be in a very distinct mood to appreciate the almost softness of Chauveau’s Singular Forms. Chauveau’s songs bend time resulting in the creation of a false memories. The way the soft synth pans out faster than it pans in reminds me of those movie sound effects dealing with time travel, here is where false memories are created. On the canvas these appear as erasure marks. A mimesis of destruction that of which done cannot be undone.

Sylvain manages to paint images of ascension on this canvas. There are moments where you feel as if you are floating to the right place (whatever that place may be) which is why for me I have to be in a very particular mood to enjoy Sylvain’s work. I have visions of being on a strange planet with strange symbols for communication, in a sense it becomes very Kubrickian. Overall its a fun album if you are patient and willing to let your mind take charge over the forms and erasures Sylvain makes.

The Kubrickian Experience

I have been making vector art. This is my first before I learned how to really paint. I call it the “the constructor.”

I really enjoyed reading Engineering & The Mind’s Eye by Eugene Ferguson. The book talks about the role of the mind’s eye in the history of engineering. I learned a lot from this book and I was surprised at some of the things I found out about the state of engineering. I like how Ferguson wants engineering curriculum to go back to making visual artist and versus just people who deal with CAD programs and math. If you think about it, the creators of great buildings and monuments had to first visualize their thoughts by transferring their ideas to paper. I like the idea of sketch talking, sketching an object and sending it to a creative partner and having that creative partner sketch on your sketch and send the sketch back.

I like how Ferguson intertwines the invention of the printing press into his analysis.  Before the press most engineering diagrams were copied by hand, this resulted in small changes in the diagrams that would lead to things being “lost.” I also love how some engineers would create design programs, designing a bunch of products with seemingly minute changes and selecting the ones that worked during their ethos. The rest of the designs would sometimes be created later down the line when society is ready. I like Ferguson’s argument of how form does not follow function, he wants you to think about the development of the steam engine. Overall its a good read and it will make you want to visualize things more in your mind versus words or some shoddy CAD program.

I have always been searching for music that stimulates me in a certains way. I used to like music in which I could analyze in dissect in a linguistic way in my brain. I remember when I went through phases of liking punk mainly to fit in, then liking Sufjan and Andrew Bird types for the meaning of lyrics and vocals. Now I am at this phase where I really like House and techno music. I can analyze this music visually in my brain. It is a different way of thinking with the Mind’s Eye. When I hear sounds I like clarity, sterility, depth, and richness in sound. When everything “works” my brain really becomes enriched by the image of sound. The more precise the sound is the more I can see spaces, walls, and sheers. I can get lost in the depths of bass or in a fog. I can think in new ways not offered by subvocally analyzing music.

Here are some albums I have been enjoying this summer

read more »