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Is it uncool to obviously enjoy your iPod's music in public?

bartelby said:
As long as people don't sing out loud I don't care what they do.
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agreed.

zelmo said:
no harm, no foul.

Music should affect your spirit. If you don't get a little boogie in ya from time to time, you should probably try listening to something new.:p

I am always jamming to music while I drive. My steering wheel says Toyota and Tama right on it.:confused: :p
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and more agreement. i sing at the top of my lungs while driving. soothes the soul.
 
I often get carried away in the car, but only by myself.

I normally can conserve myself in public though, I try and listen to music that doesn't get me right into it. ;)
 
I've just driven back from an engagement party signing along to Opeth, mush to the annoyance of my wife.
 
I have a nasty habit of air guitaring to whatever I am listening too. Being a guitarist doesn't help, because it doesn't look like I'm actually going mad to music, being accurate looks freaky :p

But yeah, I love seeing it when people are enjoying it, although if I have to suffer some freak in the back of a bus playing his/her mobile phone-loaded Eurodance tripe again, I'm going to stab myself in the eyes with a blunt spoon. Ah the joys of public transport in the UK.....
 
I believe that a little air guitar and some head banging, or even some dancing is almost required when listening to music. Hell ya I get down in public. Usually people start rockin' with you if you give 'em an ear phone. :D
 
good for him

nothing wrong with this public display.

unfortunately, there is not enough happiness in the world today, or, at least it seems that way. so if the guy was rocking and keeping to himself...good for him. the stiffs looking at him like he was demented, probably just needed a hug.

:)
 
I'll sing in the car at speeds over 20mph, any slower and I think people would chuck stuff, but generally I'll be listening to the radio and more likely to be yelling at Nicky Campbell that he's a twunt.

My 'problem' is PodCasts, I listen to the Ricky Gervais one and find myself laughing like a lunatic in the street etc.:eek:
 
Blue Velvet said:
being stopped to ask for directions ...Perhaps when I'm making my way about through London and listening to music, I carry myself like I know exactly where I'm going, leading people to believe that I'm a walking streetmap.
It's a mystery.
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I get this all the time in random stores -- people walk up to me and ask me questions about the products... sadly, I usually know more than the staff so it's hard not to answer...

The iPod thing:
When someone is listening to headphones in public, (or talking on their cell-thing) they are explicitly shutting out interaction with other people.

For some bystanders, including me sometimes, this can be taken badly: It's like the person is saying -- "I'm here in this bus, but I am NOT here with you losers. I won't acknowledge your existence, and I won't respond to anything you might say, whether it's a conventionally pleasant comment about the weather, or you saying 'excuse me but you're standing on my foot'."

It is socially isolating, a declaration of insularity. And I sometimes resent that - like if someone wore a tshirt saying "Don't even talk to me, just &*#% the #=!! off."

I'm not saying that people don't have a right to their privacy, they do, but that headphones are an in-your-face declaration that the person is disengaged - they are not and will not be interested in interacting with the people around them.

And that makes me sad.
 
CanadaRAM said:
I'm not saying that people don't have a right to their privacy, they do, but that headphones are an in-your-face declaration that the person is disengaged - they are not and will not be interested in interacting with the people around them.
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That's how it is in London, regardless of whether you're wearing headphones or not. People don't tend to strike up random conversations in the street or on public transport. Respecting people's bubbles of privacy in a huge city is a way to get along, because the alternative would drive you crazy.

My main time for listening to my iPod is going to and fro from work, when I'm either planning the day ahead or reflecting on what's happened that day... it's definitely 'my' time because I spend most of the day pleasing other people i.e. clients.
 
CanadaRAM said:
I get this all the time in random stores -- people walk up to me and ask me questions about the products... sadly, I usually know more than the staff so it's hard not to answer....
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Ooo I get that all the time too, so much so I've started promising people discounts or saying they can have stuff free:D
 
It provides entertainment at times that can be boring (ie, public transportation).

Personally I would never do anything like that.
 
I get annoyed when people on the bus start talking to me while I am wearing my headphones.
I have the earphones on for a reason - I do not want to interact with people.
Leave me alone...:mad: :D

But serioulsy I have caught myself tapping on the seat in front of me, or when I my office , tapping my foot on the floor. Drive my colleagues crazy all they hear is TAP-TAP-TAPTAP-TAP... :rolleyes:

No singing out loud for me, I had surgery on my throat that damaged my vocal cords and I sound like a crow talking.
 
The worst is listening to dance music.

I was listening to old trance mixes from '99 on (actually on my Creative mp3 player) on the DC metro and I simply COULD NOT refrain from dancing a little in my seat, these mixes are just too good. People were looking at me like I was high/crazy.

Oh well. I was happy. :)
 
I don't really care if people are enjoying music in public. My sister and I crank her stereo up all the time and listen to music while crusing through town. All the time singing to it, albeit not very well. It's just having fun and if people have a problem with that, then that's their problem. They shouldn't come crying to me if they have a problem.
 
synth3tik said:
I caught myself on the train signing and dancing along with Weird Al's "White & Nerdy"
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Brilliant. I'd have to laugh if I saw that.

mpw said:
...

My 'problem' is PodCasts, I listen to the Ricky Gervais one and find myself laughing like a lunatic in the street etc.:eek:
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ah yes, now I remember why I try to avoid those - I get those looks without podcasts making me crack up.

Kermit the frog said:
i listen to my ipod while shopping and I dance and play air gutiar and all that jazz. If people don't like it i laugh in their face.
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I'm hoping you're exaggerating, because you almost make it sound like you're doing to to be obnoxious and look for that reaction. People usually find what they're looking for in that capacity.





As for me:

Well I don't mind as long as the person isn't making a big nuisance of themselves. The only problem I have is with people who don't use their headphones and subject everyone to their inevitably bad taste in music. Those little turds should have their music devices dropped out of the train windows. twunts.
 
OMG!

Seriously there is this autistic kid at my school- he does the same thing.

Every morning driving to school I see him waiting for the bus at the end of his street and he is totally rockin' out to his iPod. Sometimes he even has drum sticks. I sometimes kinda feel bad for him since a zillion people probably drive by him while he's waiting for the bus.

Was he by any chance blond haired, probably 6'3"- maybe taller, possibly wearing a bandana around his neck and gloves with no finger part??? He has a mentally handicapped brother and a very large mother....

That would be hilarious if it was the the same person vacationing where ever you live (Britain I assume)
 
Meh, I don't have a problem with it as long as they're not singing aloud, but I still think it's kind of uncool to get too into the music... :eek:
 
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