MP3 players while on lawn/garden tractor

Stephen_Byers · May 10, 2005

I couldn't figure out what forum this message belongs in. It didn't really seem to fit anywhere.

I am wondering who out there is using an iPod or other hard disk MP3 player while mowing? I am considering purchasing but am wondering if the bumpy terrain will cause skips to music.

Also, if anyone has thoughts on different types of noise cancellation earphones, I'd love to hear about that, too.

Thanks.

Ceriusone · May 10, 2005

Hi. As far as a hard disk player is concerned, there will be no skips regardless of what happens because there are no moving parts in those units such as there was in tape and cd players. This is the main reason that joggers have turned to MP3 players or WAV hard disk player to run with because not only do you not get skips, but you're listening to pure digital music vs. analog and can get so much more music and play time. Hopefully, the prices will continue to drop so I can get one myself! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Dennis

Dargo · May 10, 2005

I'm a gadget nut and have a lot of them. I don't own an iPod because I just think they are overpriced. I have a 40 gig Creative Labs Zen that works great. However, for just mowing, I generally use my little Rio Cali. It has 512 mb internal memory and I added a 1 gig chip. I think that gives me 600 songs or so. It is the size of a small coin purse and a single AAA battery lasts about 18 hours. It's my MP3 player of choice when mowing.

For headphones, I've spent a small fortune on the different models and have found that the Bose Quite Comfort II's are by far the best in my opinion. You can find less expensive ones that work okay, but they do not have the range of the Bose nor do they do as well at cancelling ambient noise. I even have a pair of Shure E5's. They are quite pricey, (more than the Bose) but do not work as well as the Bose while mowing.

hudr · May 10, 2005

/forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif/forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif<Hi. As far as a hard disk player is concerned, there will be no skips regardless of what happens because there are no moving parts in those units such as there was in tape and cd players> /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
Actually there is a moving part in a hard disk player. It has a hard disk just like a PC in it for storage. A Hard Disk works like a high tech record player. A magnetic "needle" is REAL close to a spinning metal disc. The info (music) is stored on the disk with magnetic "bumps". Enough vibration will cause the 'needle' to strike the disc basically knocking chunks out of it.
Now... as long as the Ipod or whatever is not strapped to a metal surface like slapping a metal fender, I don't think it will hurt it. I believe the specs on late model Hard disks are like 7.5 Gs or something like that.
The only players I know of with no moving parts are the "flash memory" type. These have no moving parts but usually don't hold as much music.
anyway.. keep the iPod in your shirt pocket of something and I think it will be fine. They build quite a bit shock absorption into those nowadays.

mathey · May 10, 2005

We have a cheapee MP3 player...holds about a yards worth of songs /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I use the standard ear bud type headphones and then put a pair of the ear-muff type hearing protectors over top of them (the kind that go over and around your ear) ... the setup seems to work well.

Ceriusone · May 10, 2005

You're right...a hard drive such as is in a computer does have moving parts which are the read arms across the disc, and the spinning discs themselves. But in the case of MP3 players and flash drives, they are nothing more than a chip with information stored on it and there are no moving parts. They are essentially pen or thumb drives. I have torn apart several "flash drives" and it is amazing what little there is to it. A chip or two and thats about all for the guts. Technology is wonderful and no matter what you choose, there won't be problems as there was in the "old" days such as vibration and heat...cold or large bumps to distort the read and recovery. I'm also sure that it won't be that long before the hard drives on computers will become inert as well.
Dennis

jwstewar · May 10, 2005

( But in the case of MP3 players and flash drives, they are nothing more than a chip with information stored on it and there are no moving parts. ) No, the iPod and some of the other ones do have a hard drive. The smaller flash type drives do not. There have already been reports of hard drives starting to go bad on the iPods. I explicitly ruled out the larger ones because I didn't want a hard drive. I know any of the 10, 20, 40 Gig ones have hard drives. Not sure about the 5 gig, but I think they do to.

I use my little Memorex with 128 MB built-in memory with another 128MB SD card in it. I've got 150 songs on it that way. A couple of weeks ago when I mowed I was listening to the NASCAR race from Talladega because it also has an FM tuner.

ByronBob · May 11, 2005

I have a 40 gig Creative Labs Zen that works great.

My wife has the 60GB style from creative. Takes it skiing and says it's the stuff to have. Loves that thing!! I'd go with an iPod or HD style also instead of a CD player.

Robert_Parent · May 11, 2005

You are confusing 'Flash Drives' with 'Hard Drives' they are two totally different technologies. Flash drives are solid state memory devices which when plugged into (or built into) a computer or embedded computer system (ie your mp3 player) appear to the operating system as a hard drive type of data storage device. They (Flash Drives) allow much faster access time in which to read the data, hince the term Flash Drive. Hard Drives on the other hand are mechanical devices with rotating plates and moving magnetic heads. It's a concept like magnetic tape but the tape is a spinning platter. Hard drives do appear in some MP3 players but are much more fragile than their solid state counterparts. Hard drives can be made to appear not to 'skip' during playback by reading the song data from the rotating hard disk into a memory buffer ahead of the actual playback time. It is this buffering of the data that gives the user the skip free performance while in the background the actual data read may have taken several attempts due to invalid data reads due to bumps or shocks to the system. This concept is also applied in those portable CD players that claim not to skip during activities such as jogging, walking, etc..

rider10099 · May 11, 2005

I wired up a cd on mine. Put it in a bag and hung it from a bungee on the rops and it works fine. Couldn't hear it well, but went to earbuds with regular ear protection over the top and it is okay. No problem with it skipping while brush hogging.
Cheers
John