Mobile phones that play music out loud

Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
These wonderful devices seem to have been invented with the express intention of causing the maximum annoyance to the maximum number of people. They're so efficient at this I'm tempted to speculate that alien technology may have been involved at some point.

Regardless of the quality or otherwise of the music being played (generally not great, as it happens), it sounds terrible due to the tiny, tinny speakers it comes out of. Why can't they just use headphones?

So, what's your take on this development? I'm up for forming a squad of crack ninja assassins to take out the CEOs and chief designers of the companies that make these phones.
 
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STN

STN

sou'wester
I'm actually in the position of TRYING to get annoyed about these to preserve my self-respect, but for some reason they just don't bother me at all (am I getting soft?). This is strange given the number of intangible 'annoyances' that drive me insane with rage. The music is always bloody awful though, and I reckon if another passenger (it's always on public transport isn't it?) complained, I'd back them up.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Are we seeing the emergence of 'annoyance fatigue' here?

I was actually going to write about the tendency of phone-boppers to be slack-jawed yoofs-on-da-bus, but I was a bit scared of a backlash along the lines of how grime is the most important and vibrant youth subculture in Britain today, et cetera. :)
 
STN

STN

sou'wester
I have these horrible visions of myself, glassy-eyed and possessed by some kind of malevolent (to me)/benevolent (to others) spectres, getting up and asking these youths what music they are listening to 'because it's really good' like you'd imagine Dave Hill out of the Guardian (basically the 'cool dad' of popular imagination personified, in a nice way) might do, only to be met with bafflement and pity. It's not the sort of thing I'd do, and I generally dislike the music being played but I just feel it might somehow suddenly be beyond my control.

The emotion I feel when someone starts playing music on their phone is one of total blandness - it neutralises me. It's terrifying.
 
swears

swears

preppy-kei
It's always "scouse house" blaring out of the phones up here, the awful bastard offspring of handbag and happy hardcore. It's done solely to wind other passengers up, the intention being to get someone (hopefully smaller and weaker) to ask them to turn it off. Giving them the opportunity to look really hard in front of their mates, usually by calling some 65 year old woman "a fookin' nob'ed".
 
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W

wonk_vitesse

radio eros
sodcast :(

It's called 'Sodcasting' according to the Guardian, like insects dancing on grain of rice or summit. It's a bit like dogs pissing on corners & trees.
 
C

Canada J Soup

Monkey Man
You occasionally see this on the buses of NYC as well (although it appears to be fairly absent from subways): Early- to mid-teen looking kids with their best screwface on, sitting legs spread wide while listening to unidentifable tinny pieces of looped-music-as-ringtone. The only enjoyment that I can fathom their getting out of it has to be from annying other commuters by being loudly and conspicuously teenaged. Maybe they're hoping someone will confront them so they can get in a fight? No idea really, as I'm in my 30s and can't remember being a teenager all that well. I'm farily sure that me and my friends were pretty annoying and loud when I was though. And we occasionally at least thought that we wanted to get into fights of some kind. My personal theory is that you go a bit mad in the first few years of being a teenager and do things without really knowing why.
 
B

borderpolice

Well-known member
every kid here in east london has one playing loud while hanging out. It's great. gives the whole place a carneval vibe. I hope some clever company will build portable subwoofers soon, with a sony-ericsson plug. sure to be massive wit da massive!
 
craner

craner

Beast of Burden
This drives me nuts. I remember the days when people where conscious about playing their personal walkmans too loud. That's a whole other age ago, and I'm not old. There used to be snippers on the Tokyo tube who'd go around with scissors cutting people's earphone cords.

Look, why do these kids always play Tupac? And why do they do that thing of playing 30 seconds of it, then stopping, and playing the same 30 seconds, over and over again? And it doesn't even sound good. It's a tinny racket. It would sound better with headphones on.
 
craner

craner

Beast of Burden
I should add that I'm talking about behaviour on buses. On the street, in open air, I can just about cope with it.
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
STN said:
I have these horrible visions of myself, glassy-eyed and possessed by some kind of malevolent (to me)/benevolent (to others) spectres, getting up and asking these youths what music they are listening to 'because it's really good'
Click to expand...

I think if enough people did that, they might stop doing it. :)
 
STN

STN

sou'wester
john eden said:
I think if enough people did that, they might stop doing it. :)
Click to expand...


Ooh, good point. Next time it happens I'll adopt a big grin, go bounding over and say something like 'hey, have you guys ever heard of John Cooper Clarke? He's like, the original rapper, you know'* or something. That'll embarrass the little devils into stopping.

*I once heard a middle-aged woman present this viewpoint to a confused-looking teenager in Superdrug in Twickenham. Their relationship was unclear but I like to think they were strangers, and she was employing a similar tactic.
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
if you started playing music on your phone without headphones someone woudl eventually beat the shit out of you, in ny
 
G

gek-opel

entered apprentice
This is why noise-cancelling in-ear headphones are a must for public transport. Even if the kidz are playing something decent like Grime, it sounds appalling due to lack of bass response from the tinny speakers on mobile phones. I suggest the Government should legislate against this technology. Following the first few murders in relation to this (as I am sure is inevitable, you know, aggressive children, have-a-go "hero"...) I remain certain that this will come to pass...
 
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sufi

sufi

lala
old dears bless'em said:
....Why can't they just use headphones?... carp moan .....The only enjoyment that I can fathom their getting .... .. I remember the days ....fart noises ...
Click to expand...

i'm just astonished that such a bunch of old ladies have enough IT skills to get online :D
 
STN

STN

sou'wester
In my day, you'd both have got a clip round the ear from the local bobby, you cheeky so-and-sos.
 
T

tox

Factory Girl
I actually quite like it when there are people playing music through their phone on the bus, on the rare occasions i forget my minidisc. Then again, I would rather listen to most music than sit in silence on public transport.

The "tishtishtish" headphone leak noise is much more annoying than the tinny but full volume phone speaker sound imo. Nothing to get too wound up about anyway.
 
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