[pct-l] Loud music in the wild (was: MiniDisc players on the trail)

[jim@rollercoaster.com (Jim Serio)]

At 04:58 PM 2/4/2001 -0500, Ginny & Jim Owen wrote:
>Jim Serio wrote:
>>So my question is, has anyone brought a minidisc player (or even CD player!)
>>along their hike (or hiked with one in general)? If so, how did it perform.
>>I'm especially concerned about it skipping from the repetitive motion >of 
>>my body/pack.
>
>
>Jim -
>I'm not likely to be telling you what to take or how to hike, but if I 
>were you, I'd be more concerned about rattlesnakes than 'skip'.  If you 
>can't hear them, it's hard to avoid them. We ran into 3 of them in less 
>than 10 minutes one evening.  :-)

Jim,

That's a definite concern that I've thought about. I'd definitely not use it
in rattlesnake territory because of that reason.

Also, it seems that most opponents think of someone who brings a walkman as
someone who's "deaf from consistent use and, because of this, has the volume
at such a high level as to disturb others".

I completely agree but believe that I, and many others, are exceptions to this
case. My hearing is _excellent_. Probably because I never used walkman's while
growing up and when I did, I was so afraid of hearing loss that I kept the 
volume
at a minimum. It probably helped that I grew up as a momma's boy and didn't 
smoke
or do (experiment with) drugs.

So why bring music on the trip? For the many reasons others have mentioned. For
me, it's very inspirational and has a positive influence on me completing 
long, boring
stretches. YMMV.

If we were walking next to each other and I had headphones on, you won't 
hear my
music but I guarantee I'd hear you breathing hard :-)

Jim