Give me the beat, boys and free my soul. I want to get lost in your rock and roll

To iPod or not to iPod? With my growing mp3 collection, all legally obtained, or so my lawyers tell me, I was seriously considering getting a low-rent mp3 player. Nothing fancy--I dont need gigabytes or whiz-bang features--just something that sounds great.

Since a good player would set me back more than a couple of thousand bucks, this required some serious thought. And right now, Im leaning towards not getting one. Oh, I love music. I'll listen to anything that would resonate with whatever Im feeling at the moment, be it Gregorian chants, Japanese kabuki, or 70's rock-and-roll. It's just that Im not an earphone person. I dont want to completely cut myself off from the outside world. I want to be able to respond to something or to somebody. I want to be able to carry on a conversation should somebody choose to engage me in one. Also, I want to be able to react quickly to danger, since I'll probably be using the mp3 player on the road, while commuting to work, or taking a long walk. I want to be able to hear someone yell, "Look out!" or "Fore!" or something. Im paranoid that way. Can't be too careful. I feel safer if I can hear what's going on. The only place I could think of using them would be in bed before going to sleep. But I dont think it's worth spending 10k pesos plus on something that would just help me sleep. A slow book would do nicely.

I tried earphiones once. In the office, I plugged in a pair on my computer. Didnt like them. Oh they sounded great, allright. But after a while I had to take them off. Can't last more than an hour with them. I just dont like putting things in my ear, and I dont like not being aware of what's going on around me. Whenever I see someone with headphones on, on the shuttle for example, I cant help but think that whoever's wearing them doesnt want to be where he or she is. They want to cut the world off. It's not background music anymore. It turns into a portal to another dimension they want to slip off to.

So nope, no portable mp3 players for me. Not yet at least.