Looking for feedback: Time-based music playlists
Happy Friday!
Over the past couple of weeks I've been working on an idea dealing with music and time-based activities. The idea has come to fruition in the form of a website called Harvy at www.harvy.app and today I was hoping to gather some feedback on the overall app and any suggestions you may have!
The Idea
For any time based activity, Harvy generates a playlist for you that fits that time period. Here are some potential use cases:
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Going for a 30 minute run, you want an upbeat, energetic playlist that lasts the whole time period and lets you know when you're done.
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If you have a 25 minute Pomodoro session, receive a playlist that first the time period and signals you when you can take a break
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Any physical activity (bike, elliptical, gym) that you want timeboxed
Current Status
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Harvy right now is heavily, heavily an MVP. I built it using Express & MongoDB on the backend with Bootstrap on the frontend and am now realizing that it can be done much, much simpler. I'm looking into React + Firebase as a potential solution?
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I am not a designer 🙃
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Right now it's about pushing something out the door and learning how to ask (and receive) feedback. So anything feedback is good feedback - working on getting out of my comfort zone!
Monetization notes
I recognize that right now there is no monetization being implemented. This version of Harvy is the most basic of basic MVPs that I crafted with a larger goal in mind. In the future, with more premium features (and talking with Spotify...) I would look into ways to charge users.
Feedback Questions (feel free to use this as a template)
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Is the idea too general? Originally I planned on going after running, then after feedback from early users it expanded to exercise, and then after more work it expanded to any "time-based" activity. Should I narrow it down or broaden it out?
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Do you have any use cases that you think would also be a good fit for this?
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Is this a "oh that's cool" idea or is it a "I'll come back to this every time I need music" idea?
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Any other general thoughts or feedback!
You can visit Harvy at www.harvy.app!t
Love the design man it looks awesome, great job. And yes I do have a quick 20 min run today to test this out!
3 things jumped out at me straight away.
Was expecting some kind of image or video interface on the right side. I'm guessing it might not have an interface but my mind was looking for something visual to understand it.
I was looking for a how it works. I eventually found it with learn more but I would make this more prominent if it was me.
As a Spotify user, I would like to read about how it works/what access it has, before I actually click to give access.
In terms of your feedback questions:
It's good that you've focussed on one thing
What's cool is if you can get users, they might ask for other features, or you can interview them and find out how/why they are using it.
There's a great point about this in the book about how the app Clarity got more users that could be of use to you: http://www.whencoffeeandkalecompete.com/
I'd use it for running
I'll be honest for me it's not a "damn I really need this solved" type problem, like I don't come back from each run going wow if only I had a way to time my songs with my running. That said, Maybe there are some other problems that will come up, maybe if I can time my running better -> faster times, or maybe there is a problem when I'm running that I haven't realized yet that could be solved. I'll try it out and let you know!
Thanks for trying it out Grant!
I completely hear you on the design/understanding it. I will definitely work on making that a top priority of helping users understand why and what it does. Thank you!
Understanding the access that Harvy has to your Spotify should probably be showcased more. My first version actually read a users playlists but this current version does not (so it doesn't need any personal access). I should update that.
The name is actually a funny story...I asked my parents if I could get a corgi and name him Harvy after I graduated college. They said no, soooo this is my "pet" project now. 🙃
Thanks for sharing that book, I'm going to check it out today.
Lastly, as for timing runs, I actually completely hear you on those points. My "big" plan is to have the music be more in sync with running. For example, you create a route on Strava/MapMyRun/etc., then you create a playlist for that run and the music syncs up with the terrain & your pace. Those are future goals but I wanted to get a MVP out there to at least get started.
Have a great run 🏃♂️
It's an awesome book man I'm reading it at the moment.
Dude I love that story! Harvy is my new corgi running buddy :)
I have had this idea! Great work!