nsb  Infinite Player.

November 29, 2011.

Back in January, we started brewing up an idea for a new way to experience NPR audio content. It would play continuously, slice programs up by segment, and course-correct itself based on user input. And it would play FOREVER. The name followed naturally.

We didn’t really have a place to put something like this. Everything we make that sits out in the world is typically a fully-supported product, whether it’s the site, our apps, whatever. This was more of a tentative experiment to see if people even liked the idea of having an active hand in the broadcast experience.

So we created a new section of our site, called the NPR Sandbox. Right now the Infinite Player is the only thing in there, but hopefully more ridiculous half-baked ideas will help fill out the section.

So as of right now, our content isn’t really created to support this kind of shuffling. If you listen to the player for any length of time, you are bound to run into some bumps in the experience. You’ll get the tail end of a segway from a previous clip, or be forced to listen to the intro of a show several times. But it’s still fun. And it’s making us think hard, philosophically, and progressively about the nature and definition of audio programming.

It took almost a year to get this project on the front burner, but it’s now live in beta form. You can read a little more about it here.