ipods and cycling

Katharine & Paul said:

Hello all!
Has anyone used a hard drive based ipod while cycling?

I have in the past, without issue. I assume they've got a good size read-ahead buffer for the bumpy.

IMO solid state players are much better suited for anything moving. I've ditched the iPo(pular)d for a 2Gb Sony walkman USB sticky thing. I find it has much better battery life, can be easily controlled when in the back of my jersey, is small, and best of all - very light! The only downside is the default SonicStage software.

cheers,
lama

Katharine & Paul said:

Hello all!

Has anyone used a hard drive based ipod while cycling?

How does it go - does it skip at all?

And before anyone asks - I wont use it on the road. I live about 500m from a
track, and would probably use it there.

Paul

I dont think riding with music causes any problems. I just ride with only one ear in, the side with no traffic, and can still hear everything i need to

Katharine & Paul said:

Hello all!

Has anyone used a hard drive based ipod while cycling?

I have an iRiver H340 and use it around velodrones with no problems.

Quoted message said:

How does it go - does it skip at all?

And before anyone asks - I wont use it on the road. I live about 500m from a
track, and would probably use it there.

Good!

In article <[email hidden]>,

gplama said:

Quoted message said:

Has anyone used a hard drive based ipod while cycling?

I have in the past, without issue. I assume they've got a good size
read-ahead buffer for the bumpy.

32 megs, or 64 megs for the 60 and 80 gigabyte models. So, assuming you
don't keep changing the order of the tracks, the hard drive is in
actual use notably less than 1% of the time.

--
David J Richardson -- [email hidden]
http://davidj.richardson.name/ - Dr Who articles/interviews/reviews
http://www.boomerang.org.au/ - Boomerang Association of Australia

In aus.bicycle on Sun, 7 Jan 2007 20:10:34 +1000

Katharine & Paul said:

Hello all!

Has anyone used a hard drive based ipod while cycling?

How does it go - does it skip at all?

My first gen one used to do odd thigs with volume and skipping tracks
when I used it on the motorcycle unless I used the lock button.

My current gen ipod is rock solid on bicycle or motorcycle.

Zebee

Zebee Johnstone said:

My first gen one used to do odd thigs with volume and skipping tracks
when I used it on the motorcycle unless I used the lock button.

My current gen ipod is rock solid on bicycle or motorcycle.

Zebee

Here is an interesting one.

A few nights ago whilst riding home I noticed that my computer wasn't
registering, mind you I could only see it every 2 or 3 hundred metres
as the road is poorly light.

I sort of forgot about it as the computer was working perfectly the
next day.

Anyway, last night I was riding home and there was light rain so I put
my ipod clone Mp3 player into the mobile phone bag on the headstem,
where it promptly went haywire, horrid noises, skipping tracks,
momentary freezing and periodic bursts of interference. I also noticed
that the computer wasn't working either.

Thinking about it (let's face it we have plenty of time to think on a
bike alone at night) I was looking for a "connection", and on spec, the
next time I approached a street light I turned off my "Dunlop" brand 10
LED headlight - computer came up immediately and when I tried the MP3
player it too worked perfectly.

As the rain had stopped I took the player out of the bag and
experimented further - it had to be at least (approximately) 400mm away
from the light before the interference effects ceased.

Holding the thought, I unlimbered the light and moved it away from the
computer - at about 200mm the computer came up and started working.

I never had any problems with my old LED light so I assume that it was
either shielded or used different electronics to my (admittedly cheap
and nasty) "Dunlop" brand light.

Anyway, the point of all this is that if you have "funny" things happen
to your computer or your player at night, try turning off your light
(or moving the affected device away from you light) to see if it goes
away.

--

Blue Heeler said:

Anyway, the point of all this is that if you have "funny" things happen
to your computer or your player at night, try turning off your light
(or moving the affected device away from you light) to see if it goes
away.

It's probably a constant current circuit that has some kind of pulse
modulation. That's going to produce electromagnetic interference (can't
say radiation, somebody might get scared!). I'm guessing you've got a
wireless computer? Wired ones can get mucked about, but it'd take a *very*
strong signal.

Anyway, if you want to limit the effect you could try wrapping a bit of
foil around the LED. I'm not sure off the top of my head what the
thickness of the aluminium is, but you might need a few layers to totally
damp this effect.

--
Dave Hughes | [email hidden]
the creator of the qwerty keyboard must have had a fetish. I don't
think it's a coincidence that you can type 'stewardess' with one hand
- Makenshi, http://www.bash.org/?692014

In article <[email hidden]>,

Dave Hughes said:

I'm not sure off the top of my head what the
thickness of the aluminium is

So you confess to wearing a foil hat?

;-)

--
Shane Stanley

Anyone seen these from T7:

http://www.torpedo7.com/page/australia/PROD/accessories/MP3-MP3-SUN

--
Bean

"I've got a bike
You can ride it if you like
It's got a basket
A bell that rings
And things to make it look good
I'd give it to you if I could
But I borrowed it" Pink Floyd

Remove "yourfinger" before replying

Katharine & Paul said:

Hello all!
Has anyone used a hard drive based ipod while cycling?
How does it go - does it skip at all?
And before anyone asks - I wont use it on the road. I live about 500m from a
track, and would probably use it there.

Yes, 40gb ipod when touring. Never skipped. Not even after crashing.

After all the anti-headphone while riding discussion on here, the number of people riding with ipods in London is just wrong!! Yeehaw! There is no law!

hippy :S

jcjordan said:

I dont think riding with music causes any problems. I just ride with only one ear in, the side with no traffic, and can still hear everything i need to

I use the same technique, just 1 ear. Works well, though I often switch ears halfway (esp on long rides) cause having sound directly in one ear usually leads to a ringing sound when you stop...hate that!

Walrus said:

I use the same technique, just 1 ear. Works well, though I often switch ears halfway (esp on long rides) cause having sound directly in one ear usually leads to a ringing sound when you stop...hate that!

never had that problem myself

I've actually been questioned by the police, once upon a time, for wearing headphones whilst riding. It was very difficult for me to explain to a pair of thick cops that I was hearing IMPAIRED and can't hear the cars anyway, but I was able to converse with them and hear the (loud) music in my discman. They didn't get it, responding with "If you're deaf, how are you able to hear us, or the music in your thingy?". "BECAUSE I'M NOT DEAF!!!!". I never did get around to calling the department to see if I could explain it to the higher up dipshits....

LotteBum said:

I've actually been questioned by the police, once upon a time, for
wearing headphones whilst riding.

Since when has that been illegal?
I suspect they only stopped you after admiring your bum and couldn't think
of another reason to talk to you.

Theo

What's wrong with having ear pieces in both ears with music up loud? People do it in their cars with radios, stereos etc. and they never get pulled over.
I like to have the ear piece in for two reasons:
1) Listen to favourite radio programs or music
2) I don't realy want to know or care if someone is trying to run me down from behind - there's not much I can do about it anyway.

Spider1977 said:

What's wrong with having ear pieces in both ears with music up loud? People do it in their cars with radios, stereos etc. and they never get pulled over.
I like to have the ear piece in for two reasons:
1) Listen to favourite radio programs or music
2) I don't realy want to know or care if someone is trying to run me down from behind - there's not much I can do about it anyway.

It's not illegal, that's why drivers don't get pulled over. Re point 1), I'm with you there...re point 2), you've lost me. There are dozens of scenarios where being able to hearing someone or something (eg an ambulance) is important.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Walrus said:

1), I'm with you there...re point 2), you've lost me. There are
dozens of scenarios where being able to hearing someone or something
(eg an ambulance) is important.

I've never had a problem hearing ambulances - if it's turned up that
loud you will be deaf soon anyway so won't hear them without the ipod.

The big problem is hearing the music/talk over the traffic, not the
other way round.

Sure, some people will zone out and not pay attention. That's not the
what's going in the ears, that's the bit between the ears.

Zebee

jcjordan said:

I dont think riding with music causes any problems. I just ride with only one ear in, the side with no traffic, and can still hear everything i need to

I think that the music issue is really about concentration not noise, the wind noise is usually so loud (except on the rare occasions that I have a tailwind) that it can be hard to hear the music anyway, yet alone the traffic!

Zebee Johnstone said:

I've never had a problem hearing ambulances - if it's turned up that
loud you will be deaf soon anyway so won't hear them without the ipod.

The big problem is hearing the music/talk over the traffic, not the
other way round.

Sure, some people will zone out and not pay attention. That's not the
what's going in the ears, that's the bit between the ears.

I always listened to my Walkman-syle radio. It helped to mellow out the
noise of the traffic and I got to hear the news. As Zebee said, it is harder
to hear the radio over the traffic rather than the other way round.

Theo