Closet music or how we organized music in an office toilet

Closet Music is music that is listened to without witnesses for fear of being ridiculed.

You won't surprise anyone with music in the restroom today. However, when the question arises of the organization of such in their own office, a lot of pitfalls emerge. Previously, such a question in our company did not get up - we lived and worked at SPbETU (LETI) for more than 10 years, using institute toilets.

Having moved a couple of months ago to a new office space, we received a sanitary-hygienic unit of the following configuration. More than half was ruthlessly selected without question given to women. In addition to the area, there are more sinks and mirrors. Cabins are organized by MDF-partitions, walls are warm with mineral-cotton filling, standard suspended ceiling. In short, no sound insulation - neither relax nor breathe out loud. On the corporate wiki, in the section “Improving the usability of the new office”, the request to organize music in the toilet appeared quite quickly.

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By the way, the resolution of the musical issue coincided with the international day of toilets (November 19) and the decade of the World Toilet Organization (English World Toilet Organization (WTO)), not to be confused with the WTO trade.

We approached the solution of the question with all seriousness and responsibility, PMBOK to help us.

Product vision

British scientists claim that the sooner the sphincters relax, the faster the employee will return to work. Ideally, after visiting the toilet, programmers should code better, testers not only find more bugs, but improve the quality of software in every way, and sales people better advise and sell more software and services.

Planned expenses - 3000 rubles.
Time frame: one, maximum two hours
Staff: two employees

The main risks of the project :

• Going beyond budget and deadlines
• Music and sound spam,
• Hitting copyright holders of music content,
• He handled the wrong music - he was unhappy.

Product Functionality :

The main

• Playing music;
• The possibility of remote collective work with the playlist;
• Sound adjustment: volume, timbre;

Additional

• Ability to set custom preferences.
• Mode of operation. On / off at the entrance / exit to the user's premises, off at night / weekend / holidays.

Non-functional requirements:

• The same level of sound in the male and female parts of the toilet,
• Performance. Play music of various formats, styles and genres.
• Data integrity
• Any security.

Design and implementation

The following two options were globally reviewed and tested:

1) Radio

A few years ago, when buying a 1C multiplayer license, the distributor offered a music center as a bonus. After a couple of calls with the requirement to provide the promised, we were solemnly handed a bedside radio clock.

The option of installing it in the toilet was almost immediately rejected. The terrible sound quality, inconvenience of control, the inability to get the same volume level in the M and F toilets without any modifications.

2) Speakers + sound source (MP3 player, cell phone, etc.)

In the nearest computer shop speakers were purchased, the choice was stopped on two-way speakers SVEN SPS-700. With the help of packing tape, remaining after the repair, and a pair of fasteners under the drywall, the columns were hung behind the suspended ceiling. Power supply (220V) taken from the outlet of the boiler, successfully found behind the ceiling. It did not want to be powered from the “light” or to throw a separate line, although the distribution electrical panel behind the wall.

Implementation №1 (Temporary)
The first-generation iPhone was used as a sound source.
Remote control of the phone was planned to be implemented via Wi-Fi, for example, with the Veency application available to jailbreaked phones via Cydia installer.

Pros : instantly implemented the main function - music playback.
Minuses : the implementation of the remaining basic and additional functions is labor-intensive or impossible.

Implementation number 2 (Current version)
Communication with the speakers is via the Ericsson HBH-DS200 blue-toothed headset. She had a long dead battery and for the main purpose it was not possible to use it. For our purposes, the device, coupled with the power supply went perfectly.

As a source - the server (!!!), stands behind the wall. Its main purpose is to work as a “Server Terminal” for the needs of a dozen office workers and there were no “entertainments” there. Therefore, to play music from it, I had to add the necessary software and hardware components. An old “without tribe and tribe” bluetooth adapter was discovered in a heap of trifles, which, quite expectedly, did not want to work on Windows Server 2008R2 the first time, and no drivers were found in the Update Center either. I had to try software from several vendors, and eventually stop at the Toshiba Bluetooth Stack.

On the other hand, Windows Media Player and related components were installed without problems through the Server Manager. The largest crutch in this system had to be inserted when it turned out that when connected via Remote Desktop, the audio device from the headset connected via bluetooth completely refused to appear in the system. Through a small consultation with Google, it was found that this scheme will only work through the entrance to the server directly to the console session, that is, with a physical keyboard and monitor. I really didn’t want to run to the server room to adjust the volume, and also to change the track, especially at the initial stage. Therefore, with a working RDP, ultraVNC was additionally installed on the server, through which the connection was made later.

Music is thrown into the shared network folder. As it turned out, Media Player quite correctly handles the addition / deletion of files from its library, so it did not have to bother with additional funds to update the playlist.

Of course, some cumbersome control of the obtained scheme is difficult to deny, however, when working offline, that is, without any user involvement, except for throwing / removing tracks from a network folder, this fact can be neglected.

Pros : all major functions are fully implemented. In terms and budget met.
Cons : not yet.

Project boundaries : only the main functions fell within the scope of the current version of the project. One additional function already has a vision, but you need to adjust the handles. For example, the “Mode of operation” is to be implemented by the Windows driver sheduler; for others, you have to think.

Feature Requests and That Machi :

• Toilet use is quantitative and qualitative (who and what cabins are): from the corridor (as in branded trains), from the workplace;
• Closet music ordering system - pre-order your favorite track,
• Coordination of music with the neighbor (s)
• Playing other audio content, such as podcasts,
• ...

Thus, employees now have an amazing opportunity not only to listen to music while visiting the toilet, but also to influence what our entire friendly team will listen to. Before the implemented system was put into commercial operation, everyone was warned that loading every kind of trash would lead to the inclusion of the hard moderation of tracks. However, at this stage it is not required - in our closet the lyrical compositions of Nightwish, the soundtracks from the cartoon “Chip and Dale rush to help”, the bottomhole hits of the “Chayf” group and much more are side by side.

Colleagues, did you have to carry out similar projects?
We will be glad to hear about your experience, offer various features and options for their implementation.

PS: The co-executor of the project (ran around the office with a mad eye, held the stairs, pushed the wall, screwed the screw-muerup) and co-authored the article - staskin1 , our gendir in combination. Many thanks to mpolozova for proofreading and proofreading.