Posted on 08/13/2007 7:43:03 AM PDT by Millee
Dave Legeret silently fumed as the man seated beside him on the plane blasted techno music on his iPod at full volume.
"It was kind of rude," recalled Legeret, 38, a jewelry designer from Sandy Hook, Conn., who was forced to listen while flying from New York City to Disney World in Florida with his wife and 8-year-old son. "Listen to it at a level that just you can hear it, and everyone else doesn't have to be subject to it."
Apple Inc.'s ubiquitous iPod is best-known as an instrument of solitude - unless the user ignores standards of etiquette by invading the eardrums of fellow commuters, office mates or other innocent bystanders. Then it starts to get annoying. Especially when you're stuck in close proximity.
Amped to its highest volume, the iPod is not nearly as invasive as the classic loud cell-phone conversation. But it can have its moments, such as when you're standing in an elevator at 9 a.m. and a co-worker cranks up Amy Winehouse's Rehab. (Too early for that song.)
Or when an ear-budded subway rider belts out what sounds like a Whitney Houston tune with careless abandon, causing other riders to inch away or flee into another car altogether. (True story.)
"I've heard that problem quite a lot, people singing along," said Leander Kahney, managing editor of Wired magazine's Web site.
"And, of course, my kids - when they have the iPod in, they shout."
That kind of behavior - an ignorance by the user of volume levels and surroundings - is more odious than the low buzz of the iPod, Kahney said.
(Excerpt) Read more at rockymountainnews.com ...
A polite reminder to “tune it down or I’ll smash it to pieces” works for me, but then I’m pretty big.
Perhaps, for those of us not so physically imposing, a reminder that it is called an Ipod, not a WEpod.
I can’t hear you...
iPod earphones are horrible on subways, planes, trains, buses, etc. - you have to crank them up to 11 just to hear your music.
For $49.99 I got a set of Sony noise-cancellation headphones that makes the iPod sound like a living room stereo system. Nobody around you will hear what you are playing and you won't be able to hear them either.
Another good reason to get new earplugs. Muggers can identify iPod users by the original headphones. That being said, the best thing about an iPod is that the bums don't bother you if they know you can't hear them.
I make sure in our physiological psych chapter that my students at least are exposed to a vigorous presentation of the information that listening to such will make them deaf within a few decades--at least partially deaf.
Somewhat sadly in terms of the effects delayed consequences have on behavior . . . it won't be for 3-4 decades . . . though at some volumens many are used to, it could happen in 1 or 2 decades.
I want a bumper sticker that says:
I don't know how to do the not equal sign hereon.
Please tell me which headphones you are talking about and I will get them immediately for my daughter. Riding in the car with her has become a nightmare of negotiation.
Which Sony headphones???
Perhaps, for those of us not so physically imposing, a reminder that it is called an Ipod, not a WEpod.
= = =
Sometimes such WEpod behavior leaves me feeling like making some units a true WEEEEEpod.
Thankfully, I’m much more of a self-controlled, charitable Christian than such thoughts would indicate . . . most of the time . . . . I hope.
Ahhhhhh . . .
early deafness setting in already?
How many years have you been . . . fond . . .
of loud volumes on such things?
Eh?
How old is your daughter?
MDR-NC6 is the model. They list for $79.99 but you can get them around $40 if you look around. (Got mine at Best Buy)
I have Sennheiser PXC300 noise-cancelling headphones. They are fantastic, and let me play my tunes as loud as I want without worry of annoying others.
Of course, that doesn’t really address the question of dealing with discourteous iPod users around you. One black girl that rides my commuter train had a habit of singing the songs she listened to. Aaliyah, Mariah Carey, Fergie, etc. It was really annoying.
One passenger finally surreptitiously recorded her while she sang, every day for a week, then burned those recordings to a CD. He then gave the CD to her, just saying that these are some tunes he thinks she’d probably enjoy.
I don’t know what happened to that passenger after that, but I do know that the singing stopped.
That’s awesome!! lol!
Bose QC2 headphones.
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