Stint, by Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, is a music sharing service that combines physical representions of links to people’s virtual music and a widget that talks to the main music application.

Each “stint�? represents one friend and is made of leather. By giving it to a friend, one links it to the main player, collecting the stints into a network. By pressing each one, a song from that person’s music collection that she has sent to you, is played. A song can be sent to a friend by holding both the stint containing that music and the one representing the friend we want to send it to.

The Stints with a richer interaction get used and worn, showing the history of a relationship. More details of this relationship can be obtained by checking the online widget. It will show the listening the origin of each song as well as who you have sent it to and how often, how long ago your friend has played a particular song. This visualization will help you choose more appropriate music for that person or to discover what their musical tastes are. Stint creates a meaningful relationship between the user, the container, the content and how they affect each other, allowing for richer and long-term relationships to exist with high-tech devices.

Technical description:
Each player comes with a set of tokens that have active RFID tags inside each one. The elements can be clipped to each other. The play function is activated whenever the element is pressed in its center and a soft snap is felt. When the user wants to pass a song on to another element he holds both of the stints down until a small chirp in his headphones signals him/her that a transfer has been made.

The main player represents the user’s own music collection and holds most of the main functionalities. A USB bit is hidden inside and the headphone jack is located on the “head�? of the stint. The fast forward and backward buttons are also included on the surface of the stint in the shape of little “wings�?. This leather element has 2 snaps at the bottom that allow for a change in functionality to occur when switching from an “open�? channel where other people can listen in to what the person is listening to.

Her thesis blog. Images of her project at the show.