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iPod-Jacked

Posted by michael on from the slow-news-fridays dept.

Rick and Roll writes "In a story on Wired, entitled Feel Free to Jack Into My iPod, an iPod owner shares experiences he has had with other iPod owners, namely the plugging of his headphones into a stranger's jack. It began when a woman in her 30's walked up to him while he was on a walk, unplugged her headphone jack from her iPod, and motioned for him to plug his in. They then listened to each other's music for about 30 seconds. He has then shared with about a dozen iPod listeners, with most of the strangers reciprocating. According to the article, the practice has also cropped up in other communities. Listeners acquire tastes for different kinds of music, just like on internet/LAN file sharing networks. An interesting read."

8 of 661 comments (clear)

  1. bluetooth by ryanw · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What would be nice is if it was bluetooth enabled, you could just have your iPod on constant broadcast mode, let people walking by snoop in on your listening... That way it wouldn't interrupt your listening.

    1. Re:bluetooth by AchmedHabib · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Speaking of Bluetooth, I was going home from work today, and for the fun of it I kept my phone searching for other devices, in the 10 minute walk I Found 3 PCs, one PocketPC and 2 Inkjet printers. One PC and the PocketPC seemed to accept my filetransfer of a picture. So did one Inkjet printer, I don't know if it printed anything but it got 4 pictures from the street printed out. All this time i was walking outside and I guess that the PCs and printers was inside the shops and small offices in that neighbourhood.
      When I got to the sub, I found 4 other phones and a Ipaq, one of them wanted the files from my phone. but all of the sudden, the trip home was a bit more fun. :)

    2. Re:bluetooth by Strudelkugel · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Ever notice how people in planes, etc, like to see what the person next to them is reading/writing/doing/wearing? Just seems to be in our nature to know what other people are interested in.

      Imagine a technology that allows people to broadcast whatever content they choose to a small area. (Actually the technology exists. The standards aren't quite there, yet.) Call it eFashion if you want, but I have a thought that this could be a big thing, because it allows people to express themselves in yet another way. Just have to let the IP lawyers sort it out after the fact.

      --
      Imagine how much harder physics would be if electrons had feelings! -Feynman, maybe
    3. Re:bluetooth by Dixie_Flatline · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The point is that they DO interrupt. It's a human contact and connection thing. We're all very seperated now, and bluetooth broadcasting would just KEEP us seperated. This is a way to connect (excuse the minor pun) with other people. You may never get to know them, other than the music that they listen to, but even that's a big deal. I'd never date a woman who listened to country music exclusively, for instance.

      This is technology bringing people together, which is pretty uncommon. Most of it just serves to keep us as far apart as possible.

  2. It's too bad by rritterson · · Score: 4, Interesting

    AFAIK, even though firewire is a host less protocol you can't transfer files from one iPod to the next.

    However, Creative jukeboxes can, and when the drab PC community catches up I wonder if people will not only listen to other people's music, but share it too- like a p2p network in flesh-space!

    --
    -Ryan
    AUWYHSTOT (Acronyms are Useless When You Have to Spell Them Out Too)
  3. Very 1st Walkman Ever Had Dual Headphone Ability by meehawl · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As an aside, the very first Walkman *ever* introduced by Sony had a dual headphone setup. It cam equipped with a "Hotline" switch that either listener could push that would mute both headphones, so they could say something. For couples jogging close together or something like that.

    The dual headphone feature remained for a couple of product iterations but was then dropped to save a few pennies on production when they realised virtually nobody ever used this music sharing feature.

    The thinking is that Sony were wary of introducing an exclusively personal electronic device and wanted to be able to market as having *some* social aspect.

    --

    Da Blog
  4. Wanna bet... by uradu · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...that if HE had initiated the jack swap she would have pulled out her pepper spray?

  5. Re:Commercial? by David+Gould · · Score: 4, Interesting


    iPod. We'll show you why 2004 won't be like 1984.

    I still can't believe they missed the chance to do another one in '01:

    Mac OS X: The reason why 2001 will be like 2001

    --
    David Gould
    main(i){putchar(340056100>>(i-1)*5&31|!!(i<6)<< 6)&&main(++i);}