FWIW, I've paid for 90% of all my music. I doubt most (younger) people with large libraries can say that.

-murray

Enough people have pointed out the safety risks of using an I-pod while riding. Pass on that. I will just suggest that using one while in a group of cyclists is rude.

That I will not argue.

+2

Concur. Sometimes I do leave the earpiece in but the music is always off.

Bought a cyclesound speaker system - music with no headphones. Life is good!

**Cough cough** I pay for my music.... just not most of it. Also I think it's a much bigger trend now to have as many songs as you can. I see a lot of my friends trying to download all these random bands to keep up with my library, which I think is silly cause you should only have music that you enjoy

Hell, I'm close to deaf and I can still hear cars coming when I am listening to music. I'm pretty sure the folks that think they can't hear anything have pretty much never tried riding with music, so they are speaking from misguided assumptions rather than experience. But, like them, I may be assuming too much...

+1

in 2008 thats not really something to be proud of

On occasion. When I do, I go all out and wear both sound isolating earphones (NRR of ~28dB).

Actually it isn't rude at all. I generally sing the songs I am listening to and many times the group ride turns into a sing along. It only adds to the ambiance.

Somehow, I get this picture of 500 guys in Spandex, riding to the Pub, singing "99 Bottles of Beer"

Or worse, some Philip Glass...

How many other people have found themselves yelling "On your left!" a couple times and the person in front of you doesn't move? Then when you pass them you realize they are listening to their iPod. The rudeness factor to listening to your iPod isn't even the biggest problem. It's a safety issue. In New York I heard that their was a push to have listening devices made illegal to pedestrians because too many people were getting sideswiped by cars or mugged. If you can't hear what is going on around you, it is impossible to be as alert as you need to be no matter how many years of experience you have. If you want to listen to music, stay on your trainer.

There is a difference between the morons who have earphones in both ears with the volume jacked up, and the reasonable people that only have them in one, with the volume at a moderate level. In California, it IS illegal to have both ears covered/blocked, but not only one ear. Go figure.

Edit: I have admitted I was wrong below
VVV

Well I ride on the road, not the MUP, so I don't have to worry much about muppets trying to pass me. But even when I do toodle down a MUP, they have these things called mirrors now, that with proper attention, much like in a motor vehicle (how convenient), you can monitor what is going on around you and see the muppets coming long before they can huff and puff 'on your left', which I can hear just fine, btw.

I don't care because I run into at most 3-4 other cyclists(which I pass, I never get passed) and a handful of pedestrians/joggers which usually are going opposite of traffic because I don't ride on MUPs. The only thing I have to deal with is a constant stream of cars going by on my left. So what's your f'ing point?

If you're insecure about the size of your music library, the "at least it's mostly legal" defense is a a common move to execute. Unfortunately, as you've pointed out, most people who don't sell records won't actually give a damn.

I ride with my ipod 90% of the time when I am solo and 0% when in a group. I have been hit by cars twice in my life and neither time I was using the ipod. Cars are generally traveling 20+mph faster than I am so whether I hear them or not is going to make little difference> The key is to be attentive regardless, people can phase out and not pay attention to what they are doing whether they are listening to music or not.

By the time someone says "On your left" to me, I've already been keeping tabs on them for a couple minutes via my mirror. Whether I have anything in my ears or not, they lost their chance to surprise me.

I ware my Ipod all the time. Here in Los Altos on Foothill Expressway it is straight with a nice shoulder for bikes. I know how fast or in this case slow I am so I stay to the left unless it is uneven in which case I am more to the right for a stretch. I crank the tunes and push my HR up. It is sort of a motivation, as last week I did 15 miles at an average pace of 17.6 which is new for me. I am always looking around and haven't had issues. I don't crank it either so I can hear folks letting me know they are passing. The less people that pass the better I know I am getting.

Nope but that could be the case for you.

This may be good when you are riding alone, but I hate when people use these systems on group rides and/or event rides. Not everyone share the same taste in music.

Illegal to wear an ipod while walking... when are we going to realize that we protect stupidity!!! Go watch Idiocracy... we seem to be heading there if we don't let our gene pool get a little thinner!!!

... I'm only partially kidding!