Itunes®: User evaluation

Abstract

This research was motivated by a previous study which indicates the ascension of the Apple®’s sales and the downfall of 14% of iTunes services. Therefore, the study intends to whether if iTunes have usability and user experience problems that prevent users from having the best possible experience, and if users prefer others softwares or devices for synchronizing tasks, like transferring songs from one device to another. The evaluation and interaction method selected for the tests conduced in this study were based on the framework of DECIDE by Preece, Sharp and Rogers [23], and concepts of usability engineering lifecycle established by Mayhew [24] and Ahram [22], in which a users observation technique applied with at least ten non-iTunes consumers. The results indicate some critical user experience scenario and points to several key problems to be addressed, especially after most of the testers couldn’t solve the tasks provided. Therefore, some suggestions which were related to iTunes can be summarized for improving the menu and feedback options, as well as the function of transferring archives from computer to mobile and vice-versa, which should be more clear and easier to address, while letting the user know possible alternatives avaialable.