Revenge by Being Louder

New York Times website ^ | June 27, 2009 | Ron Rivera

[RayChuang88]

My wife and I were on a crowded 1 train last year when a young red-headed woman turned to the woman seated next to her, who was playing her iPod way too loud.

“Hey, mind if I listen?” the redhead said, and without waiting for a response, plucked the woman’s left earbud, placed it in her own ear, and began bobbing her head to the music. The iPod owner looked mortified. The car grew silent save for the blare. I looked at my wife, who had heard me rant about this so many times she knew exactly what I was thinking: At last, someone was taking a stand.

Of all the daily discourtesies we endure, none to me is more irksome than headphone leak. You know, that treble-drenched drone emanating from iPods halfway down the subway car. What puzzles me is why people do not complain more often, why we don’t rise up in numbers and insist these people turn their music down, or else. Where is Howard Beale when we need him?

[JimRed]

Are you in DC? Maybe it’s worse on some lines than others.

Cue the little kid yelling "that's racist"

;^)

[DManA]

If you can hear music from an IPOD across a train car that person with the IPOD is either def or soon will be.

[Glennb51]

Right on!!!! I have been trying to come up with a way to make a directional EMP gun. Say, a 1 degree spread. My technical wizard tells me that EMP is omni-directional and would shut down my vehicle also. I think it would be great for those who think it is necessary to share what they call music with the rest of the world to show them we don’t want to hear it.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Freedom is messy, chaotic and loud!

Deal with it. If you don’t like the “headphone leakage”, get a headphone and listen to what you want.

Sheesh.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

(that tone is directed at the NYT whiner by the way)

:)

I totally agree with your post.

[eXe]

Yeah no kidding. I mean this has been like this for AGES, even back to the walkman days. As a kid I remember riding those subway cars and hearing that little bit of noise coming from headphones.. people get upset over THAT now?

Thin skinned to say the least. Glad I no longer live in NYC and have to deal with the volume police.

[ml/nj]

Of all the daily discourtesies we endure, none to me is more irksome than headphone leak.

Does this guy really live in NY? Aren't the African suitcases issuing mega-amplified profanity a bit more annoying? Ditto the pimpmobiles riding around broadcasting the same trash.

ML/NJ

[melsec]

“It’s a noisy subway car, barreling down a tunnel, not mass.”

Now that’s funny! I cannot stand a lot of noise but you are right we are all a bit thin skinned - me I’m just a grumpy old man at 49.

Mel

[RayChuang88]

I do vividly remember boom boxes and why the transit police frowned on them all the time!

This is why I use the JVC HA-FXC50-B in-ear headphones with my iPod—I don’t “leak” music to nearby listeners and the in-ear design provides suppression from outside noise, too.

[dangus]

>>>> Are you in DC? Maybe it’s worse on some lines than others.<<<<
>>Cue the little kid yelling “that’s racist” <<
What? You’ve never heard annoying until you’ve had to sit next to someone cranking C-SPAN up to 11 on his walkman.

[ml/nj]

I responded with a full broadside of Bach’s toccata and fugue in d minor

Similar story. Back when I lived in an apartment, a neighbor was playing his jungle music way too loud. I rapped on the wall a couple of times with no satisfaction. So I moved my speakers as close to our shared wall as possible and played Joan Sutherland's Puritani Act I Sc 2 at full volume. I never had a problem again.

ML/NJ

[castlebrew]

“...directional EMP gun. Say, a 1 degree spread.”

so if we cold focus a 360-degree waveform down to a 1-degree waveform, we could probably get a two-fer out of it.

as in frying more circuits other than the iPod.

sounds like a win-win to me....

[Excellence]

My fantasy is to have a pickup truck with the speakers that they use to play church bells in the back for just such a purpose.

[castlebrew]

“cold” = could

[Riley]

I normally have some bagpipe music- usually a souvenir tour tape or CD from one of the Scottish regiments of the British Army on tour handy. I just happened to have Bach already in the deck at the time. :-)

I quite agree, though.