Turn down the ipod and you could hear me!

[candyshopgirl]

You know I love music.Hell when I'm home I play loud obscene rap music(But I live in the country with my closet neighbors being funny fat drunks).But when I'm in a store I don't have my ipod on and I turn down the volume on my cell and I don't answer my phone when at the counter. Anyways I had this girl come up and of course she had her ipod on full blast and she goes to ask me a question and she yells(of course because she can't hear with ipod on balst.)And then she repeats the opposite of the response I said.I swear my generation is going to be completly deaf by the time they get 50-60. I quit having my ipod on full blast because I started having ringing in my ears. Its a little better now,since I laid off the ipod.

[blas]

There was this kid who (very briefly) worked at the factory. We have to smoke outside on break. Naturally, there will be talking and laughing and relaxing. However, this kid and his ipod on full blast playing this awful screamo-emo music was just terrible and detrimental. It was so loud, no one could hear each other talk. And he refused to just put in the earphones and listen to it himself....it had to be loud for EVERYONE to hear. We were so happy when he quit because he'd been ruining our breaks and we almost considered wasting a few minutes of our breaks walking to the other side of the building to their smoker's gazebo so we wouldn't have to listen to him.

[GingerBiscuit]

I only listen to my MP3 player at the gym (the music the gym plays is dreadful)
Sometimes when wandering around the shops but I always take it out to talk to people.

[katie kaboom]

I'll listen to my ipod when i'm out doing errands, but when i get to where i need to go, i turn the ipod off till i'm done the errand. And on the rare occasion i do listen to it in a store i make sure the volume is low enough that i can still hear what's going on around me.

[Music Mo-Gal]

I can't stand people who play their IPods so loud that everyone on the bus can hear it. If it's loud enough for me to hear 3 seats away, then it must be causing hearing damage to the person's ears.

[xaenon]

I can't stand people who play their IPods so loud that everyone on the bus can hear it. If it's loud enough for me to hear 3 seats away, then it must be causing hearing damage to the person's ears.

The damage has probably already been done, and they have to turn it louder just
to hear it - which of course only accelerates further damage.

I listen to mine just loud enough to drown out ambient noise, and maybe just a wee bit higher. Of course, at the unholy hour I start work, there isn't much noise at all.
Once everyone's there and there's the din of engines and air tools and assorted boom boxes (all tuned to different radio stations), the MP3 is outmatched and pointless; I put it away in favor of ear plugs.

[GingerBiscuit]

on the other hand, if the music played in the shop is loud enough to be heard over my mp3 player, the music in the shop is too loud. Sometimes your mp3 player or whatever has to be really loud to drown all the screeching and shouting of other people out.

Seriously, maybe it's just me, but on public transport there is no need for a grown adult to screech like they're just giving birth in the course of a normal conversation.

[MadMike]

on the other hand, if the music played in the shop is loud enough to be heard over my mp3 player, the music in the shop is too loud. Sometimes your mp3 player or whatever has to be really loud to drown all the screeching and shouting of other people out.

I get the same problem with the assholes who like to crank up the TVs in the fitness center at my job, much to the anger of the people in the offices above. The sports fans seem to be the worst offenders. Several nasty emails went out about it, including threats to disable the TV speakers completely, requiring people to use the closed captioning, but so far nothing has been done other than posting signs. And we all know about people and signs.

[Cats]

I'm guilty of listening to my iPod when I'm shopping. Except during sleep time, I'm one of those people who go NUTS if there isn't some kind of background noise (and store radios tend to have sucky music).

However, when I'm at the register, I either turn it down as far as it goes or pause it when I'm checking out, and always greet the cashier and be nice. I have customers who do that to me too (hey, it can be a pain in the ass to take off headphones to put them back on with stuff in your hand), and as long as its not loud or preventing the usual employee/customer relations, I think it's fine.

[PepperElf]

I don't feel guilty about listening to my iPod while shopping. I've been listening to audio books. I just finished "Eldest" (grr... "Brisinger" isn't out yet...) and am now listening to "Eclipse".

But... that being said, I do make a point of taking it off when I'm going to talk to someone, or if I'm going through the checkout.

But even without the iPod, the phone's usually with me cos when I'm shopping with my parents, it's a good way for us to meet up when we're done.

[MrSmiley]

I walk around shopping with my not-an-iPod. Actually I'm never listening to it at a volume where I can't hear other things, so I could conceivably leave it on while attending the cashier, but that would be taken as rude so I usually pull them out and leave them wrapped around my neck (or above my ear for a quick purchase).

On the other hand, if someone randomly asks me a question or I make a quick comment ("The bananas you're looking for are right over there ma'am"), I don't feel the need to pull them out of my ears. I don't expect the conversation to last for long.

[Sharsarannon]

I too am guilty of shopping while listening to music on my iPod.
However.
I do this on days when I just can't cope with unsolicited noises, smooth-jazz or soft-rock or whatever a store decides to play, or loud conversations and screaming kids. I use the iPod as an aid so I can go out in public without screaming, on such days. I have earbud type earphones specifically to block out surrounding noise, and it means my music doesn't have to be very loud for me to hear it comfortably.
I do make a point of being more alert to possible visual cues that someone might be trying to get my attention, and I do also turn it off and take out the earphones when I'm at the register, so I hope I'm not sucky.

[RayvenQ]

The damage has probably already been done, and they have to turn it louder just
to hear it - which of course only accelerates further damage.

In an Ironic twist of fate, always having my music ear blastingly loud has oddly, somehow, resulted in me having quite exceptional hearing.

[Chromatix]

I've never been able to use in-ear phones - they always shift out of place in no time at all, which ruins the sound. On-ear headphones also end up uncomfortable rather quickly. The only headphones I find comfortable are the circumaural type - so I have two pairs of absolutely massive Sennheiser cans.

Needless to say, I don't normally wear them outdoors. But they sound excellent, and never end up too loud for comfort.