Ride with music or not?

Blue Gator wrote:
:: This has probably been discussed before, but please
:: forgive me for asking since I'm new to the group.
::
:: I'm thinking about getting a mp3 player to listen to on
:: long rides. Good Idea or Bad Idea?

IMO, a very bad idea. You need to listen for approaching
cars, or at least I do.

"Roger Zoul" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Blue Gator wrote:
:: This has probably been discussed before, but please
:: forgive me for asking since I'm new to the group.
::
:: I'm thinking about getting a mp3 player to listen to on
:: long rides. Good Idea or Bad Idea?

IMO, a very bad idea. You need to listen for approaching
cars, or at

least

Quoted message said:

I do.

Some people advocate using an earplug in the right ear, as
to leave the left ear for traffic sounds. I don't know how
well that would work. I don't ride with music either,
preferring to listen to the sounds of nature. :-)

...although the drone of a busy 4 lane sucks. I never
noticed how loud it can be until I started riding my
bike there. It's awful, with the loud exhausts and big
tires and all.

Gooserider wrote:
:: "Roger Zoul" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
:: "]news:[email hidden]...
::: Blue Gator wrote:
::::: This has probably been discussed before, but please
::::: forgive me for asking since I'm new to the group.
:::::
::::: I'm thinking about getting a mp3 player to listen to
::::: on long rides. Good Idea or Bad Idea?
:::
::: IMO, a very bad idea. You need to listen for approaching
::: cars, or at least I do.
::
:: Some people advocate using an earplug in the right ear,
:: as to leave the left ear for traffic sounds. I don't know
:: how well that would work. I don't ride with music either,
:: preferring to listen to the sounds of nature. :-)

me too....

::
:: ...although the drone of a busy 4 lane sucks. I never
:: noticed how loud it can be until I started riding my bike
:: there. It's awful, with the loud exhausts and big tires
:: and all.

True, but that's when it's most important to be paying
attention, imo.

Besides, one reason I started bicycling is that riding my
stationary, even with an MP3 and TV, was just too boring
(even though, since it was raining today, I did 24miles on
the stationary). I find riding outside on new routes to be
just plain fun....

Blue Gator said:

This has probably been discussed before, but please forgive
me for asking since I'm new to the group.

I'm thinking about getting a mp3 player to listen to on
long rides. Good Idea or Bad Idea?

I do a lot of riding in a city and I use my ears all the
time. Listening might be as important as seeing to keeping
myself alive, or at least not being in hazardous situations
all the time. This includes hearing other cyclists.

When I am in places with little traffic, I like hearing the
world without motors all around me.

When I am riding with other people, I like to talk, listen,
and most importantly be aware of where others are for their
safety and mine.

My life is not a movie. I don't need no stinking sound
track.

Hmmm... see the pattern here? 🙂

You might google this issue. Others have given excellent
reasons why listening to music while riding is fine for them
and poses no hazards.

On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 06:31:37 -0700, Dan Daniel <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Blue Gator said:

This has probably been discussed before, but please
forgive me for asking since I'm new to the group.

I'm thinking about getting a mp3 player to listen to on
long rides. Good Idea or Bad Idea?

I do a lot of riding in a city and I use my ears all the
time. Listening might be as important as seeing to keeping
myself alive, or at least not being in hazardous situations
all the time. This includes hearing other cyclists.

When I am in places with little traffic, I like hearing the
world without motors all around me.

When I am riding with other people, I like to talk, listen,
and most importantly be aware of where others are for their
safety and mine.

My life is not a movie. I don't need no stinking
sound track.

Hmmm... see the pattern here? 🙂

You might google this issue. Others have given excellent
reasons why listening to music while riding is fine for
them and poses no hazards.

Thinking about it some more, IMO, when jogging, I think the
music really helps, maybe with maintaining cadence and
speed, and giving motivation up hills. Serious runners
disdain, but I used tunes all the time.

But I think with biking, since you're moving so quickly in
relation to jogging, and the pedal cadence is more
automatic. So, for me, tunes seem less important, at least
at this stage in my development on the bike. The
speedyness of the movement through the countryside kind of
is its own music.

I will say that the few times I've used it, it's been a lot
easier to spin, and times when I might have slacked off, if
a new fast paced tune comes on, I maintain the cadence. But
I'm pretty sure as I get more experienced this effect won't
be that pronounced either.

Just a thought.

-B

Blue Gator said:

This has probably been discussed before, but please
forgive me for asking since I'm new to the group.

I'm thinking about getting a mp3 player to listen to on
long rides. Good Idea or Bad Idea?

it's illegal in some places, and for a good reason. you need
to be able to hear what's going on around you.

Blue Gator said:

This has probably been discussed before, but please
forgive me for asking since I'm new to the group.

I'm thinking about getting a mp3 player to listen to on
long rides. Good Idea or Bad Idea?

Check your local laws. In many areas it is illegal to
operate a vehicle on the road while wearing headphones.

--

-John ([email hidden])

Depends on how you listen to it.

In many states, it is illegal to operate a vehicle (bicycle
included) on the streets while wearing headset or earphones.
ANY type of headset ear phone, even "open air". The argument
being that it decreases the ability to hear potential
hazards, such as traffic A single ear plug (one ear) is OK
in some of these states.

Yeah, I know. That makes a lot of sense in these days of
automobiles that are advertized to be so well sound proofed
they can practically silence a jackhammer right outside the
car, and that which makes it through can be easily
overridden by the gazillion watt sound system that comes
standard! BUT, the law's the law. I actually stumped an El
Lay city police chief who had come to give a talk on cycling
safety at a club meeting with that one! LOL

SO - what I did for my commuting bike was to buy a couple of
battery amplified speakers (Radio Shack) and tuck them into
a handlebar bag (I use the side pockets, so the rest of the
bag is still useable). Hook up the walkman or mp3 player and
boogie on down the road, as legal as can be. They are a lot
more comfortable than trying to get a headset under a
h****t, too.

- -

"May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear
for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner geocities.comczcornerOpen ↗

"The Queen of Cans and Jars" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Blue Gator said:

This has probably been discussed before, but please
forgive me for asking since I'm new to the group.

I'm thinking about getting a mp3 player to listen to on
long rides. Good Idea or Bad Idea?

it's illegal in some places, and for a good reason. you
need to be able to hear what's going on around you.

It would be nice if the same philosophy were applied to
rollerbladers. They are a real hazard to cyclists because
they generally can't hear anything over their music.

cheg said:

"The Queen of Cans and Jars" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Blue Gator said:

This has probably been discussed before, but please
forgive me for asking since I'm new to the group.

I'm thinking about getting a mp3 player to listen to
on long rides. Good Idea or Bad Idea?

it's illegal in some places, and for a good reason. you
need to be able to hear what's going on around you.

It would be nice if the same philosophy were applied to
rollerbladers. They are a real hazard to cyclists because
they generally can't hear anything over their music.

in theory, i agree. however since i don't ride anyplace
where people are likely to be rollerblading, it's not
something i've personally encountered.

Blue Gator said:

I'm thinking about getting a mp3 player to listen to on
long rides. Good Idea or Bad Idea?

while touring i've used a minidisc player and a headphone in
one ear (or two if on the interstate -- noisier) while in
rural areas and in some cases i would go so far as to say
i'd have had a hard time w/o it (south dakota for instance).
i'm pretty unapologetic about it. outside of touring and
even on long rural rides locally and especially urban i
would never use headphones.

plenty of time for both the sounds of nature and music when
you're riding 7+ hours a day.

mp3 players suck for touring (but you're not talking about
that are you?) because of the recharge requirement.
minidisc players went for a week or more on a AA. yow! and
6 albums per disc.
--
david reuteler [email hidden]

David Reuteler said:

Blue Gator said:

I'm thinking about getting a mp3 player to listen to on
long rides. Good Idea or Bad Idea?

while touring i've used a minidisc player and a headphone
in one ear (or two if on the interstate -- noisier) while
in rural areas and in some cases i would go so far as to
say i'd have had a hard time w/o it (south dakota for
instance). i'm pretty unapologetic about it. outside of
touring and even on long rural rides locally and especially
urban i would never use headphones.

plenty of time for both the sounds of nature and music when
you're riding 7+ hours a day.

mp3 players suck for touring (but you're not talking about
that are you?) because of the recharge requirement.
minidisc players went for a week or more on a AA. yow! and
6 albums per disc.

How do you get the musics on the minidisc players? I dimly
recall that it's a problem getting the MP3 from the PC to
the mini-disc; or maybe there's some other hang up that kept
them from becoming more popular. And how are they for anti-
skip - is there a problem with that like on a CD?

I believe my MP3 player will go about 6-8 hours depending on
volume before a battery change is needed. Then it's not
hard, just a single AA, takes about a minute when sweaty and
breathing hard to change it...

-Badger

Badger_South said:

David Reuteler said:

mp3 players suck for touring (but you're not talking about
that are you?) because of the recharge requirement.
minidisc players went for a week or more on a AA. yow! and
6 albums per disc.

How do you get the musics on the minidisc players? I dimly
recall that it's a problem getting the MP3 from the PC to
the mini-disc; or maybe there's some other hang up that
kept them from becoming more popular.

i use bsd boxes and macs so i can't use the frou-frou PC
interface. anyhow, i hooked up the digital out of a 5-disc
changer to the digital input of a recordable minidisc player
(sony ?), set the record speed to slow, hit play and went to
bed. remember cds?

part of what kept them from becoming popular (ironically
enuf) was the sound quality .. they use a lossy compression.
the reason that's ironic is that they were completely
annihiliated in the marketplace by mp3 players. ha ha ha.

Quoted message said:

And how are they for anti-skip - is there a problem with
that like on a CD?

never had a problem with skipping.

Quoted message said:

I believe my MP3 player will go about 6-8 hours depending
on volume before a battery change is needed. Then it's not
hard, just a single AA, takes about a minute when sweaty
and breathing hard to change it...

what's the capacity of your mp3 player? when i last had to
worry about this the mp3 players that took batteries had
such small capacities that the minidisc player was a
better option (@ 6x6 = 36 albums). there may very well be
cheap 2gb cf mp3 players with good battery life. if there
are use them.
--
david reuteler [email hidden]

On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 14:38:30 -0400, Badger_South <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

How do you get the musics on the minidisc players? I dimly
recall that it's a problem getting the MP3 from the PC to
the mini-disc; or maybe there's some other hang up that
kept them from becoming more popular. And how are they for
anti-skip - is there a problem with that like on a CD?

minidisc.orgminidisc.orgOpen ↗

I believe that there are minidisc players now that will play
mp3s, like CD players. And even without that, it's a pretty
easy process these days. Many minidiscs come packaged with
simple interfaces for just this.

One problem is that MD is a real-time recording medium. You
can't burn a minidisc like you can a CD, or dump data like
you can to an mp3 player. Maybe they have solved this
problem, also?

Skipping is pretty well not an issue.

David Reuteler wrote:
:: Badger_South <[email hidden]> wrote:
:::
::: On 13 Jun 2004 17:27:22 GMT, David Reuteler
::: <[email hidden]> wrote:
:::: mp3 players suck for touring (but you're not talking
:::: about that are you?) because of the recharge
:::: requirement. minidisc players went for a week or more
:::: on a AA. yow! and 6 albums per disc.
:::
::: How do you get the musics on the minidisc players? I
::: dimly recall that it's a problem getting the MP3 from
::: the PC to the mini-disc; or maybe there's some other
::: hang up that kept them from becoming more popular.
::
:: i use bsd boxes and macs so i can't use the frou-frou PC
:: interface. anyhow, i hooked up the digital out of a 5-
:: disc changer to the digital input of a recordable
:: minidisc player (sony ?), set the record speed to slow,
:: hit play and went to bed. remember cds?
::
:: part of what kept them from becoming popular (ironically
:: enuf) was the sound quality .. they use a lossy
:: compression. the reason that's ironic is that they were
:: completely annihiliated in the marketplace by mp3
:: players. ha ha ha.

Not all lossy compression is created equal....

::
::: And how are they for anti-skip - is there a problem with
::: that like on a CD?
::
:: never had a problem with skipping.
::
::: I believe my MP3 player will go about 6-8 hours
::: depending on volume before a battery change is needed.
::: Then it's not hard, just a single AA, takes about a
::: minute when sweaty and breathing hard to change it...
::
:: what's the capacity of your mp3 player? when i last had
:: to worry about this the mp3 players that took batteries
:: had such small capacities that the minidisc player was a
:: better option (@ 6x6 = 36 albums). there may very well be
:: cheap 2gb cf mp3 players with good battery life. if there
:: are use them. --

My iPod has a 30 GB HD in it and can last for at least 6
hours (I've never listened to it that long and would never
take it on a bike ride).

Roger Zoul said:

:: part of what kept them from becoming popular
:: (ironically enuf) was the sound quality .. they use a
:: lossy compression. the reason that's ironic is that
:: they were completely annihiliated in the marketplace by
:: mp3 players. ha ha ha.

Not all lossy compression is created equal....

well, that's true. and the lossy compression used on
minidisc players is in general *BETTER* than what's used
on mp3 players (mp3s compress smaller for a given
compression ratio, but atracs sound better). that's kind
of moot anyway because early minidiscs were 4:1 and most
mp3s are on the order of
8:1 or 10:1 which clearly sound worse.

Quoted message said:

My iPod has a 30 GB HD in it and can last for at least 6
hours (I've never listened to it that long and would never
take it on a bike ride).

i have the same ipod, btw. pretty hard to charge that in the
tent, tho. well, unless you have a generator. which was my
point .. battery powered is nice while touring.
--
david reuteler [email hidden]

In rec.bicycles.misc, Blue Gator ha avuto il coraggio di scrivere:

Quoted message said:

I'm thinking about getting a mp3 player to listen to on
long rides. Good Idea or Bad Idea?

i hate who listens music while driving, also a bike...
if you go in a park, ok, but in other cases is a
terrible thing...

bye bye
--
Alex88(16,RM,60±,70±,Full-Suspended munito, Biker)
[email hidden] - rimuovi NOSPAMM www.alex88.3000.it

David Reuteler wrote:
:: Roger Zoul <[email hidden]> wrote:
::::: part of what kept them from becoming popular
::::: (ironically enuf) was the sound quality .. they use a
::::: lossy compression. the reason that's ironic is that
::::: they were completely annihiliated in the marketplace
::::: by mp3 players. ha ha ha.
:::
::: Not all lossy compression is created equal....
::
:: well, that's true. and the lossy compression used on
:: minidisc players is in general *BETTER* than what's used
:: on mp3 players (mp3s compress smaller for a given
:: compression ratio, but atracs sound better). that's kind
:: of moot anyway because early minidiscs were
:: 4:1 and most mp3s are on the order of 8:1 or 10:1 which
:: clearly sound worse.

With Mp3s nowadays you can set compression levels....I think
minidisc players were just ahead of their time...I have no
idea how they sound...

::
::: My iPod has a 30 GB HD in it and can last for at least 6
::: hours (I've never listened to it that long and would
::: never take it on a bike ride).
::
:: i have the same ipod, btw. pretty hard to charge that in
:: the tent, tho. well, unless you have a generator. which
:: was my point .. battery powered is nice while touring.

And a good one....even though, I do think the make device
that will let you charge your iPod from a battery...I
remember wondering....why would someone want that....now I
see at least one good reason (okay, Mp3s will riding is
NOT a good reason, IMO -- that's my story and I'm sticking
to it!) 🙂

Gooserider said:

Roger Zoul said:

Blue Gator wrote:
:: This has probably been discussed before, but please
:: forgive me for asking since I'm new to the group.
::
:: I'm thinking about getting a mp3 player to listen to
:: on long rides. Good Idea or Bad Idea?

IMO, a very bad idea. You need to listen for approaching
cars, or at least I do.

Some people advocate using an earplug in the right ear, as
to leave the left ear for traffic sounds. I don't know how
well that would work. I don't ride with music either,
preferring to listen to the sounds of nature. :-)

The one-ear thing works fine, especially if you have a
'mono' switch on your device. There's no problem at all in
hearing cars. Nature? Yeah, right. Well, I guess it's
possible during traffic lulls...

--
Cheers, Bev
=====================================================
It's 95% of the lawyers making the other 5% look bad.