ipod - a commuter’s guide
This article in the Age today observes that mp3 players are becoming necessary for the daily train commute:
On this weekday morning, the telltale wire emerged from within winter clothes to the ears of schoolkids and shop-assistants, nurses and middle-aged businessmen. For commuters with idle minds, there’s now a new morning parlour game. Take a look around and guess that tune.
Maybe it’s sometimes better not to know, and smirk mischievously as you picture the 50-something suit with the Donald Trump hair, secretly blissing out to Christina Aguilera or inwardly jumping to a thrilling set of Detroit techno. Or is the kid in baggy jeans, clinging improbably to satin boxer shorts, revelling in a Mozart adagio?
Well, I don’t know how many people play the game, but mp3 players are certainly moving out of the realm of the tech-savvy geek and into the mainstream. For commuters, there is a definite size advantage over the bulkier portable CD players and walkmans, leading to an explosion in the number of white headphones in train carriages.