This stereo/cassette/alarm
clock is so full of bad design practices that it is difficult to
cover them all in this space, therefore, I will try to hit the most problematic
ones. Aside from the obvious difficulty of reading the LED clock
display (except under very dim lighting conditions), the various
controls are very poorly designed.
One problem, not unique
to this cassette player, is that the play and record buttons are positioned
next to each other, thus increasing the likelihood of recording over
an unprotected cassette tape when accidently pressing play and record at
the same time.
Suggestion: Most good cassette player/recorders separate
these two functions to prevent such a mishap.
For awhile I thought
the alarm clock had 4 functions: 1) AM; 2) FM; 3) AUTO; and 4) Tape.
As it turns out, it only has 3 functions, as FM AUTO is one function, though
I'm still not sure how FM AUTO differs from what would be FM. Note
that the indicator marks are so close together (less than 2mm) that the
words AM and TAPE are far off to the left and right, respectively.
When I first received this as a gift, a constant source of confusion was
trying to set the radio to FM and getting AM, instead. The word FM
actually appears directly over the tic mark indicating AM. This picture
shows the radio in FM AUTO mode. Moving the 4mm-wide switch 2mm to
the left will change the function to AM, the switch will not line up with
the AM label when in AM mode.
Suggestion: Put more space between function modes such
that the switch lines up with the label.
Finally, the VOLUME CONTROL
is poorly designed. First of all, the volume labels of 0, 5, and
10 are unreadable beyond 12 inches from the radio (note 0 is circled).
Second, the separate left and right volume controls (really useless in
a stereo with 2 feet of speaker wire) are diagonally arranged such that
the Right control needs to be a little to the left of the Left control
in order to be set to the same level. Finally, the silliest design
quirk of all, note that 0 volume (circled) is 6 major tick marks from the
MIN label, which might indicate a possible volume control level of -6,
and that the MAX label is 7 tick marks beyond the 10 indicator, though
the actual switch stops at 0 and 10. The switch itself slides smoothly
and because the tick marks are so close together, it is difficult to stop
at the level you want, EVEN IF YOU COULD READ IT.
Suggestions: Use a larger font size for the labels.
Get rid of tick marks that can not be used and spread the remaining ones
out, so that you can adjust the volume with more precision and so you can
read the volume level setting, or simply use a rotating knob.