[School project]Need help with a software development budget

[frippz]

I'm working on a school project involving a concept with media kiosks, where people can plug in their mp3-players (or iPods) to buy music and audio books. These would be downloaded to the local terminal via a high speed internet connection from a distributing partner. One of the aspects of our business plan is to present a budget for differents things needed to make this project happen. Of course, this is just a school project, mind you, so we'll probably never turn it into a reality. ;)

My part of the job right now is to estimate the costs of developing the software needed for this terminal thingy. Problem is, my programming skills are close to none, so it is pretty hard to estimate how much work would be needed and how long it would take for someone to complete this. So I would really appreciate some input and estimates on how long such a development project would take.

Here's some of the needed features of the hypothetical software

An easy to use user interface (utilizing a touchscreen interface)
Some sort of way for the software to communicate via the internet to download the songs requested
An interface to transfer the media to the MP3-player

I guess that's the basic layout. I only need a rough estimate of how much it would cost to develop this kind of software. Just so I have some figures for the budget. I know there are several aspects to take into consideration, like the size of the development team and so on. But hey, no need to get our hands too dirty. :)

There's no need for feedback on the project itself. That'll be taken care of by our teacher at our examination next week. ;)

[majikstreet]

I can't say much, but I bet that could be done for free. Open-source, baby! Also, if you were to remember this when you get a bit older, I would say, DO IT!

-m

[aysiu]

The creator of SharpMusique (http://nanocrew.net/software/sharpmusique/) has the source code available. Maybe your programmers could create a hack of that.

[frippz]

Also, if you were to remember this when you get a bit older, I would say, DO IT!

-m
Heh, funny you should say that. I'm old enough to not want to accept my next birthday. :D There's actually a chance that someone might want to buy this concept once were done. We've contacted some companies about distribution and to get some information to get our business plan together and a few of them expressed an interest in the project, which is very exciting. :)

Some of our classmates have already gotten an offer for their idea, so the pressure is on! ;)

edit: Oh yeah, forgot to say. The software should only be developed for the terminal itself, there's no need for an iTunes-like store since we'll be working with a distributor of online music (well, they said that if the project were to launch for real, they would definately be on. :))

So, anyone got an idea of how much time it would take to develop the software for the terminal. Could it be something like a whole month worth of work for, say, 2-3 developers? (I basically pulled those number out of my butt, since I have no experience in the field)

[majikstreet]

How old are you?

[frippz]

How old are you?
Turning 25 this sunday, actually.

[majikstreet]

Oh!

I thought you were someone maybe a few years older than me (ie: in high school)

I'm 12 by the way.

-m

[benplaut]

Oh!

I thought you were someone maybe a few years older than me (ie: in high school)

I'm 12 by the way.

-m

yup... ubuntuforum's lil baby :cool:

(kidding)

[bdash]

If it's just what you're describing, with support for mass storage devices only,
using a high-level language such as Python or Ruby it can be done in one month or two months by one good developper. It's very basic fonctionality. Also, remember a basic rule when estimating development time: 1 man in 2 months is not equivalent to 2 men in 1 month. 2 men need to coordinate their efforts, communicate so the productivity decrease.

However, if:
- You want support players like iPod, I don't know how to upload songs so I don't know whether it's complicated or not
- If you want DRM (i.e. if your content providers don't want your users to be able to copy songs from their player to other devices) that can be complicated. I mean, I don't know how to implement that, I don't think there is already a free implementation, and I don't know if it's possible to do it in a few months by a developer with no DRM experience.

For DRM there is basically the Apple option and the MS (wmv) option. The two are not compatible so you'd need to implement both.

DRM can be the real problem. I don't think content providers will accept to sell mp3 without DRM.

[majikstreet]

yup... ubuntuforum's lil baby :cool:

(kidding)
:P You aren't much older than me, benplaut!

Anyway, good luck with your project :)