i haven't experienced any issues with other people wearing headphones in my area,,,, actually,, there have been more 'near misses' with the drama queens who feel the rink is thiers... and theirs alone.
i used to be a 'skate guard' [ the bully that keeps kids in line during public skates]... at a private school. it's the only rink i've ever been to that USED such people! at all the other rinks in the area,, it's a fend-for-yourself atmosphere!! you guys have 'guards' in your area?
those plastic crates kids lean on are horrible.......one lady had her feet taken out from under her. a kid got bored with the crate,,pushed it out into the crowd,,,took her out! she now has a plate with five metal screws in her ankle.

There aren't guards very often around here...sometimes on busy public sessions at certain rinks sometimes. However they're all pretty nice, and the ones I have dealt with got used to me so there's a nice trust thing. I don't mind skate guards at all, it helps during public sessions to have an authority figure on the ice to tell kids to get the hockey puck they're kicking around off the ice, kick the occasional rude boy out, etc. Plus I think it's good because they can watch people and learn who skates responsibly and who doesn't.

At my original rink, they used to have these scary horrible metal bar contraptions that the kids would use, and sometimes ride while another pushed. I guess they caused too many problems, because now they use 5-gallon buckets. The problem? The buckets are WHITE!!! (not like the nice orange kind from Home Depot). So they're hard to see against the ice. And then bored kids stack a whole bunch of them up, then shove them down the ice, which sends the whole stack rolling.

I really don't like that rink...

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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 used my ipod today. Of course, I was at times, literally the only person on the ice. Occasionally, one other skater was on the ice, but he's a great skater and so I wasn't worried about him. It was strange, the ice was so empty, but it was great. So I wasn't worried about crashing into anybody. Of course, I needed my ipod as the radio wasnt' working, so it was either that, or skate in silence which totally creeps me out, when it's just eerily quiet.

I went in to the rink today, put on my ipod, and went out to skate. Public session, and NOBODY was there. So I was pretty excited since I wouldn't have to worry about other people, then the skate guard came in, and said that it's the same input as the stereo input so I could play my ipod over the sound system. So that was pretty cool. I don't think I'll ever use it for freestyle sessions, unless they're empty. I was mostly wondering if people had problems with headphones flying off, LOL. That wouldn't be good.....

Thanx for the input guys!!!

~Jess

for what they are worth, some of the problems happen during freestyle ice; our public skate ice guards are teenagers that skate around chatting with their girlfriends.
Not much goes on that they do anything about...

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

First of all i skate with head phones on the kind that go over your head and have both ears covered i dont blare my music i can hear it well but i can also hear what is going on around me and i watch what is going on around me and i have never had a problem any more than i have had without the music in my ears i can hear when someone else music comes on and can hear when someone calls out to me.

I, too, am perfectly aware of other people's music, whose music it is, and by this time of year, where they are likely to be skating. Moreover, the Husband doesn't usually wear the other earphone (occasionally, if the dance allows it), so he is even more aware than I am of what is going on. And at least one of us can hear the music and time ourselves correctly, without having to fight the elite dancers for more than occasional non-lesson use of the loudspeakers.

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

We cant have ipods on the ice.. we can plug it in in the music room for some music on the ice so everyone can hear. if your talking about your own skating music.. what we do is bring out a boom box on the boards and plug it in.. its good... try it.

I use my mp3 player becuase i am so sick of listening to some of the crap that is played on our system. I am aware of what is going on today i was on a public session but it may as well have been freestyle session lots of fast figure skaters hockey skaters and public skaters had to be more than 20 and i had headphones on it was really caotic and i didnt have a problem in the least i heard and saw when someone was coming and our regulars i recognized their music and looked for them. People are just as dangerous without players and headphones on their ears sometimes more so it is all about how much attention some one pays and it doesnt take music to distract for someone to not pay attention. the other day a girl without headphones skating backwards on a busy session while looking forward not looking back once and almost collided with me i got out of the way and i had the headphones on she was the danger not me.

Trouble is, so does everybody else want to - and a 4.5 minute programme from one of the elite couples seriously eats up music time in a 15-minute lesson! So it's really only the elite couples and people having lessons who can play their music - sometimes you can get a slot when it's not your lesson, but you have to seize your moment ("Please could we play our free dance music as Husband has to go to work in a minute?") and ask every coach on the ice if you can use the music, and it's a pain in the neck, at times! Weeks like this week (half-term, here in the UK) it's not worth even thinking about!

So if you want to run through your programme or dances to the music more than once a week, it's an MP3 player or nothing! I'm lucky that people don't mind here - but then, those of us who use them are very careful.

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

We don't have rink guards, either. But we also don't have any beginning skater assistance objects (metal contraptions, buckets, crates, etc.). A busy freestyle session has about 15 skaters/coaches with four lessons happening at once. My coach will choreograph during a freestyle wearing headphones, but I'm not quite brave enough to try.

My rink is in a mall, so sometimes public sessions can get very busy -- I'd never try to wear headphones then because a busy public session can mean 50 recreational skaters, two or three lessons, some hockey guys doing drills and an occasional speedskater. On public sessions, coaches follow their skaters with boom boxes.

I've had the very, very rare occurrance of being on an unpopulated freestyle. I carry a couple of cds in my bag as "just in case" music and then I'll pop one in and skate to my tunes.

aren't you afraid that your headphones will wrap around your neck during spins and choke you?

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figur8asandwichnowhe'sfull

I'm with Skate@delaware people skating with headphones on are clueless to whats going on around them. Every time they are on the ice they are a danger. I cant tell you how many near misses people have with them! If up to me they would be banned. I am not sure how many accidents it is going to take before they are not allowed. Interesting thing is it is only the people who can barely skate who are out there with ipods, etc. The high level skaters never use them because they are out there to practice not listen to music!!!!!!!!!!!!

I use my ipod on sessions sometimes, but only when it's very empty early morning. A good example is yesterday, when I needed to work out a bunch of kinks in my straightline footwork. I cut just that 30 seconds of music, & copied it multiple times onto my ipod, so I could just have it playing on a loop over & over & over......if I'd put that on the overhead music I would have driven everyone nuts! Plus, this way I could play it as much as I wanted & go back & repeat the same little tiny bit instantly over & over. It was great, & I got a lot more accomplished than I would have if I were dealing with the overhead sound system.

It's not allowed at my rink, and with good reason. The sessions are crowded, especially now that it's summer, and there are enough near collisions without the added risk of people with headphones.

I have hardly ever seen anyone using one, and usually when I do it tends to be an older skater who doesn't want to listen to the music that the kids put on the overhead speakers.

There's hardly ever a problem with getting your program music played when you want during a session, so there's not really a need to have to play your program on headphones. Sometimes when a coach is choreographing a program, she'll bring a small boom box so she can play the music over and over without bothering anyone.

That is not entirely true - some of us use them in order to practice, otherwise there is no way we can do our programmes to music more than once or twice a week. Perhaps I should make it clear that the ONLY music on my MP3 player is a few tunes for the compulsory dances we are working on, my artistic programme, my husband's free programme and our free dance. End of. No random "music-to-skate-to".

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

I don't like skating with an mp3 player personally, but when I tried it, I only put one earplug in and left one ear free so that I could hear what was going on around me. I found that it really helped to be able to hear my surroundings on ice.

(But that didn't solve the problem of the mp3 player orbiting my body on it's strap whenever I was in a spin.)

I bought one - mostly for working on my program, but i would only do it if there were hardly anyone there. Only problem is, my mp3 player is still in the box and i don't know anything about how to use it and record on it! ha ha

No, the wire goes directly into my shirt, and under it down to my pocket where the player is, or if I don't have pockets that day, down the inside of a long sleeve to the player which gets stuffed into palm of my glove. No wires dangling around.

And I don't just listen to music for the sake of listening to music. I listen to energetic music that keeps me motivated, or various other things that I can "skate to" even without any formal program. That keeps me working on things more often, pushing to do things better, etc. more than I would otherwise. So it allows me to make faster progress, and that's invaluable to me. Ban me all you like - I'll go to another rink. I don't run into anybody anyways.

Trying to play music at freestyle sessions has been an absolute nightmare for me. Sometimes I can get away with it, other times, I put my very first song on, and somebody with more seniority at the rink decides to go and stop my music 20 seconds in so he can put on his stupid dance track that I've heard 121295 times. I don't mind hearing it a 121296th time, but at least wait for one of my songs to finish. And it seems there's always somebody going for the cd player to put in theirs as soon as a track is up. I'm of the generous sort, so I always just let other people play theirs with no worries. Well then I realize it's 2 hours later and I STILL haven't been able to play one song. Screw that. I'm perfectly safe with a personal music player.

Public sessions at most rinks don't allow you to play your own music, and the only one that does during some uncrowded daytime sessions has horrible ice. And their selection is always hideous, ranging from stereotypical techno Fridays at one rink, the all-to-common "crappy tunes of the 80's" nearly everywhere else, and "laid back mexican hour" at the rink I go to during lunch now sometimes. One time a rink I go to put on classical music for a change - that was a nice relief, and I took off my headphones to enjoy it, just as I do whenever I notice the rare decent song playing on the main system.

Speaking of indecent music, you do NOT want to hear what the zamboni driver blasts at crazy volume after the last session when everybody leaves as he does the ice for the last time!!

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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

Casey, you bring up some interesting points! I also listen to motivating music, while skating and while working out. It helps.

I also try to bring in my own cd's (cuts or my own mix) for public sessions so we don't have to listen to the radio....and the tons of commercials played. I haven't received too many complaints (mostly requests for rap...umm, no, don't think so).

And, instead of getting ticked that someone keeps bumping my cd, I just listen to my mp3 player.....that way I can hear my music over and over and over......without ticking anyone else off!

I wear over-the-head earphones, but wear one out of the ear, and snake the cord under my vest so no cord gets caught in my arms. I haven't had them fall off my head either.

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

I always wear one earplug only and leave the other free. And the way to solve the problem of it orbiting is to stuff it down one's front! It doesn't work if you're wearing a practice-dress or leotard, but anything else, you can get it to the right place, stuff it down your front, and reach up underneath to click it on!

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