Hello Again, Sydney

One Sydney-sider's experiences moving back to Sydney after a long absence overseas.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Pod people

No socks or jocks for me this Father's Day - check out what I scored:


Pretty cool eh? When I registered online, they said I was the 17th last person to get one in Sydney. "There are that many people in Sydney without iPods?" I asked in disbelief. Seriously, around the CBD nearly everyone has the earplugs in. And having done it for a few weeks now, I can definitely see why.

It's like having your own personal climate control. Chilly wind blowing your way? A bit of salsa - MarkTunes recommends El Preso - will temper that. Sweltering spring day? Stick on Eisbär by Grauzone and feel the temperature drop. And if you're just walking along the street and could do with a boost, there's nothing like Kurtis Blow's Gimme The Breaks to put a spring in your step. Just be careful listening to drum and bass in enclosed spaces - it's hard standing still with that shit going on.

I've become one of those people who walks along the footpath, oblivious to the sounds around me, and so busy texting that I often bang into people and traffic signs. I don't pay as much attention to the outside now that I've got music in my shell.

In Bogota, you didn't get many people walking around with iPods. That was partly because you try to avoid showing off your cool and stealable gadgets, but also because you got enough songs on the street, in the shops, even in the buses. That wouldn't wash with Sydney-siders. There was actually an advertising campaign recently targeting people who have their iPods up too loud in the train - commuters were getting annoyed by the sound leaking out of the headphones. I often wonder if there's an etiquette for lifts. How far should I turn it down? Sometimes I take my headphones out, just to check that it's not irritating the people around me. Of course, I kinda wish they could hear. In fact, what I'd like to do more than anything is to plug into the PA and pump that mother up to 11 so everyone can hear how cool my songs are. Come on everybody put your hands in the air! I know. They wouldn't appreciate it. There's a reason I'm not a DJ.

Still, in the future I'd like to see an option on mp3 players which would let you "catch" tunes from other devices. If I'm walking along the street and see someone who looks like they're really dancing on the inside, I could point my player at them and pick up whatever tune they're listening to. Technologically possible? Definitely. Invasion of privacy? Probably. Copyright issues? Hmmm. Another one for the "great ideas" file.

3 Comments:

At 11:50 am, Blogger Kristina said...

I think I'm the 17th last person in the States to have finally gotten an iPod in April. It's a little weird for me, though, because I'm so social that I find on my walk around the neighborhood I'm usually yanking out the earbuds to drape the cords around my neck and chat with my neighbors. They're great for travel, though, especially when it comes to listening to podcasts.

I hate the earbuds, though. They don't fit my ears and if I'm not yanking them out to talk, they fall out anyway.

 
At 2:52 pm, Blogger Mark said...

I agree about the earbuds, Kris. I always feel like they're not quite sitting right, and I'm missing bits of the song, too.

 
At 4:22 am, Blogger Becky Willis Motew said...

You guys are way too cool for me. Someone GAVE me an original ipod and I still can't figure out how to work it.

b

 

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