I wanted to get people's input on this, because I got an ipod nano today, and was wondering how many people actually skate while listening to their player. I know it's harder to pay attention to people around you, but that shouldn't be a problem for me since no one ever goes to the sessions I go to.

So how many of you skaters out there skate with your mp3 players, and don't have any problems?

~Jess

I think it's fine, and I confess I have done it, however be careful. If you fall, which will probably happen at some point, there is a risk it could be damaged.

I do it almost every time I skate, with my phone that plays mp3's with a stereo headphone adapter, which I either put into my pocket if I have one, or stuff into my gloves if not. I run the wire down my shirt/sleeve. It's never been a problem - I look where I'm going.

I plan to buy a Nano soon, just because it's so nice and tiny so it would be handier when I don't have pockets especially. Plus the phone only holds 32MB (I could buy a bigger card for it, or a Nano that holds 4 times as much and has features like continuous play without button pushing and random playing for not much more...hmmmmm...yeah...)

(In an ideal world, the Nano would also function as a cell phone with no size increase...give it a few years)

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

There is a woman in my adult skate class who has a hot pink nano that she clips to the front outside of her hip. She said she actually fell ON it once (she had a rectangle bruise!) and said nothing broke in it. At any rate, something like that seems like a better idea than a walkman or other large player (there is another woman who uses one of those, and it flies off every time she spins).

Having skated on the ice with GOOD skaters who had the remote headphones to skate to I would say that the potential for being a menace is high! It was a nightmare because they were so focussed into what they were doing to their music that they pretty much ploughed everyone else over

It's a good idea in theory but that doesn't necessarily translate into practise!

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The best whisper is a click

In my opinion it's a lot like the driving while on the cell phone debate.

Some of us can pull it off perfectly, multitasking well and staying in the lane while watching the traffic as usual. Others became so engrossed in their conversation that not only do they have severe difficulty focusing on the road and staying in their lane, but when the conversation becomes more intense, their hands go flying off the wheel in order to make various emphasis moves to the person who can't even see them. These people are truly scary to ride with.

It's a very individual thing, and each person needs to be responsible enough to decide what they are able to do without increasing risk for others around them. I skate fast in lots of public sessions with the earbuds at full volume...and never hit anyone or cut anyone off. Heck, sometimes I'm actually on the phone listening to the other person, when I do jumps or spins (usually this is when they realize something is amiss, and ask if I'm at an ice rink). So I think I'm just fine in continuing to listen to music.

At least, you're far less likely to kill somebody on ice than going down the freeway.

AND, not using earphones doesn't help with the people who get really engrossed with their music, anyways! Put it on the loudspeakers and they still don't pay any attention when their music is on!

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

I just picked up a Nano a couple of weeks ago and I LOVE IT! It's a great way to have your program music any time you want it and be able to start, replay and stop the music as you need.

I watched the skaters at my rink for awhile before I bought one and the only people I see with a player are those working on a program and, strangely enough, THEY seemed to be paying a lot more attention to others than the skaters without headphones. I haven't seen anybody use a player for "general entertainment" while skating.

At the last rink where I skated, the music was so loud that I wore ear plugs anyway to protect my hearing!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

We use a cheap MP3 player (not an iPod!) and a pair of sports headphones; we only ever wear one headphone so that we can hear what is going on around us, and have never had a problem.

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Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I've always felt it too risky. I've seen people skating around with headphones on totally oblivious to what's going on around them. I like to be able to see and HEAR other skaters. All too often I can be skating backwards in my programme IN MY LESSON and nearly get knocked flying. If I was practising with an mp3 player I'd have come a cropper. I'm not prepared to take the risk.

Nicki

Yeah, it brings up the cell phone debate. On the one hand you have people that CAN multitask safely; then there are others that get into their own world and ignore (and run into) others.

I wear one and only put one earpiece in....if the rink is not crowded at all (i.e. less than 20 people), that's the only time I actually wear both earpieces and I let the people know I'm skating to my own music and working on my routine.

I've never had a problem with running into anyone, because you still have to pay extra attention and not assume people will get out of your way. (I skate mostly on public sessions, but our freestyle sessions are unsupervised so we still have to be cautious).

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

The majority of the people I see doing that DON'T have headphones on!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

What is really scary? These people also DRIVE!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I HAVE to skate..[ and ski, bike and climb],, to music. i still use a cassette player though! -- i like to 'cut and paste' my own stuff together.
no music in my ears and it's like ''why bother'?
i don't know about ipods or other gadgetry, but with headphones on, i can still hear people around me. it's up to you to be concientious and courteous to others,, headphones or not.
i always refer to the skiing tag: ''you're responsible for those in FRONT of you... '

If it was allowed I would in a heartbeat.

I've only been to one rink that had an issue with it (and it was the largest rink, with the least skaters too!). But then, they also asked me to slow my skating down on some days even without headphones...so...

I don't like overly restrictive rinks. Obviously if somebody is being a danger or running into people, that's another story. But preemptively telling people to not wear headphones, or to skate more conservatively (on freestyle sessions!?!) when they're not causing any problems is against my religion.

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

Not in a million years would I consider skating with headphones at my rink. Most of the time I skate on a high freestyle session that is very busy. There are plenty of near-collisions as it is, without people being further distracted.

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~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

I had a very-near miss a few months ago. I was in lesson WITH MY MUSIC PLAYING when a woman wearing her iPod and headphones didn't yield to me....my coach was yelling for her to move as I was doing a back spiral....the woman didn't hear anything at all (my coach said she could hear that woman's music even over mine). At the last second, my coach yelled at me to stop and she went to have words with the woman. (I stopped barely 2 feet away from her and she still didn't notice me).

I later recommended that she keep one earpiece out of her ears...her reply? "Well, then I can't hear my music over everyone elses" ok, get decapitated by a blade next time then

My coach was ticked but nicer than I would have been. She typically runs interference for me as we have several that skate with headphones on.

Again, I skate with mine on but with only one earpiece in....for this very reason, I want to hear when someone is yelling at me to get out of the way, but you still have to be aware of all the skaters around you.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Yes, THAT is what's important, headphones or not.

There was a nearly identical incident at the rink where I skated last week only the ditz didn't even have headphones on - she's one of these people who skate backward without looking and skated right into the path of a girl skating her program. A number of people yelled but she was on a different planet. Fortunately the girl who was skating her program fared better than Miss-Backwards-Without-Looking.

There's another one in the same rink who has a habit of darting out from the boards without looking for uncoming traffic. I don't know how many times she cut me off in the past month but I told my coach that the next time she stepped out in front of me, I was going to run her over. She did that in the last session again and I MISSED!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

Delete, double post.

I think it extremely inconsiderate of people to skate with headphones on. You all would hate to skate with me, because I'd be the first to complain about you to the management. It's a very bad idea on many levels.

I once collided with a COACH who was wearing headphones. It was me, her and my coach on the ice. That was all, just the three of us on an Olympic sized rink. My program was playing, and this coach with the headphones still managed to bash into me.

People only yell at you when they can see you. I can't tell you how many times I've managed to avoid a collision because I was able to hear someone's blades on the ice behind me. I doubt that I'd be able to hear the sound of blades if I had an earphone in my ear, and I'm sure I wouldn't stand a chance of hearing them if I had earphones in both ears.

And unfortunately, I don't know if it's possible to self-monitor, since the very people who are getting lost in their own music and posing the greatest danger on the ice are too inwardly focused to realize that they are the problem.

I'd be right behind ya to complain, sister!

It's totally inconsiderate. I don't know how, if you are listening to your own player, you will know who else's music is playing and who is doing his/her program. AFAIK, it's not allowed on my rink's FS sessions.

ITA, manleywoman. As others have pointed out, some people can pay attention while wearing headphones, most can't, so it makes sense to have a blanket rule where you can't wear headphones. By the time you distinguish bet who can remain aware of others and who can't, a serious injury could have already occurred.

I used to skate with someone who wore headphones. As manleywoman and Skate@Del described, I was running through my program, in a lesson, with my music playing, and this guy was in the way. I called out to him several times, louder each time, and he still was completely oblivious. I finally had to stop, since he was standing right where I was supposed to jump, and go around him, and only then did he realize that he was probably in my way and apologized (gee, thanks). I think enough people complained to the skating director that he was finally asked to stop wearing the headphones.

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Terri C is a Bronze lady!
Gold Moves, here I come!

I thought of doing it briefly, only to realize that the people who skate around me at FS session have their music on the loudspeakers WAAAAY too loud for me to figure out whether someone is skating close enough that I better get out of the way. NO, THANK YOU!!! Besides that, I can count beats in my head well enough to work on my program w/o the music anyway.

(I still have to find a use for the iPod though. Probably the gym, I guess...)

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Oh, geez!! What kind of lame excuse is that! Even at max volume from my phone, I can still hear background music and coaches yelling at their students.

I wouldn't go any louder than that with headphones on...there's really no point. Wouldn't use those noise-cancelling earbuds, either.

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve