I have grown up listening to music and associate it with pretty much everything I do. I have discovered an inner peace in listening to beautiful film scores while enjoying the outdoors - however, I have always used headphones to not disrupt anyone else's experience. Recently, my adventurous companions have asked that I share on occasion. In response to that, I have taken on the added weight (12oz) of a small ipod speaker and will play music for small periods of time while on the trail. This, unfortunately, forces me to bring up the rear so that everyone else can hear.
So my question on ettiquette is this - when encountering other hikers on the trail, I try to turn the volume down. Is this enough? I am curious what the consensus is regarding music in the outdoors.

Listening to music as I hike is certainly not to my tastes. I don't do it and don't intend to start. But you aren't me and you may hike your own hike.

I don't expect all other hikers to be utterly silent as they hike. I often hear them coming, chattering away or laughing. The issue here, as I see it, is not music, but volume, or to put it another way, how far away your music can be heard. By the time you've seen an oncoming hiker and turned the volume down they may have been hearing your music for quite a while, if you've had it turned up. That would be quite annoying, however nice the music.

I would counsel, don't just turn the volume down occasionally, keep it down always, to the point where the lead hiker in your group may not always hear it clearly.

You about pegged it on the volume topic - i definitely do NOT turn it up very loud for 2 reasons...1 so that anyone outside my immediate group cannot hear it...and 2 because it would be that much louder being right next to me. Considering the kind of music and the volume, you would have to be within 20 or 30 feet of me to even know there was music playing.

Thanks for the response!

To me it would depend a lot on what sort of music it was and how loud it was being played. If it was the sort of stuff I too often hear blasting from the windows of cars being driven by hormonal, sub-cortical young males then I wouldn't like it very much. On the other hand, if it was, say, Beethoven's Sixth Symphony played fairly softly I would like it a lot. YMMV.

I prefer to avoid the louder ear-drum bursting music while in the woods (except for The Cult's "Aphrodisiac Jacket" when I channel my inner "White Water Summer" moments).

Trail music is almost always film scores: Gladiator, Titanic, Rudy, Shawshank Redemption, Avatar, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future...to name a few. Either that or occasionally will put on some mellow blues.

Go for it, just keep the volume down. No mindless bass only playing.
Duane

I wouldn't think about it all if you're hiking by the other way. I'd be out of hearing range in short enough time to not give it a thought. If you were passing me on a trail I'd probably (depending on what you're playing) just take a break and let you put some distance between us.

Avoiding those who do like music is also part of outdoor etiquette. I'd never hike for long nearby, or set up camp next to, someone who's listening to music and demand they shut it off.

The reason I go hiking is to get away from it ALL, even music.

I can't say I'm getting away from that anymore. I don't listen it when I work, or drive, and I'm seldom anywhere it's playing.

There was a time I was surrounded and bombarded with it almost constantly though. I don't miss it.

I do appreciate music though, and when I get the itch I'll bust out some jams and crank it all the way up to 11. I've got an old Peavy guitar and an even older little Valco tube amp that I'll break out if I've someone's around that can play it

I'd say there are no hard and firm rules, headphones are fine in my opinion, speakers less so, although if it's while you are hiking it's less bothersome to me than in camp. and certainly if it's soft enough it's not that big a deal.

But to give you the flip side, I have on a number of occasions been subjected to a few drunken idiots with both kinds of music[1] playing loudly in the outdoors, I'm really not keen on speaker based music. too easy to go from inoffensive to obnoxious. - grab a headphone splitter and feed a few friends on mini-headphones as you walk - or a good bluetooth rig and tell people to grab a bluetooth set - pair all their headphones with you and you're done.

[1] Country, AND Western...

What Phat said. And Intrek, too.

Like this?
http://youtu.be/maH61YCnMNE

I love music, but would never dream of imposing my tastes on others, it's headphones for me when needed.

Sorry-but when I am on the trail, I want to be able to hear the birds sing, the bear scraping bark off a tree, and the wind whistling through the trees.

I don't want to hear anyone else's version of music, and amplicfication just makes it worse.

If you want to listen to music on the trail, do it in a way that doesn't affect anyone else.

You would be surprised how far sound carries sometimes. Like some of the others, you want music, wear headphones. I do that when I'm walking around my neighborhood and see a lot of others doing the same thing.

Loud music can lead to problems you really don't want to deal with.

I agree with rock, balz and tom.

I think the discussion on type of music has no business in this thread. Taste in music is personal, what you find enjoyable others may find disagreeable. I am sure the guy blasting out mariachi and narco corridos in the parking lot at Grant's Grove this past summer would not enjoy the music I like. His taste in music didn't make has actions any more or less reprehensible.

In the end when you are moving, you create a lot of ambient background noise. In order for you to put out music so the guy at the front of the line can hear means someone enjoying a quiet picnic can hear it from a long way off.

I say either bluetooth everything or let everyone carry their own I-whatever.

Speaking as a person with an unusual problem I do not want to hear your music. I have Amusia which makes all music just a blur of irritating sound. Some types of music are easier to ignore than others but all music is something I avoid if possible. I am aware that this is unusual but apparently about 10% of the population suffers from this to a certain extent. Most can just ignore music and do not do as I do and go out of my way to avoid it. This problem along with hearing problems is one of the reasons why I hike solo most of the time.

Gord, I have never heard of amusia before, I'm glad I don't suffer from it. I am hard of hearing, though, and I leave my hearing aids at home when I go hiking. At $2000+ apiece, I don't want to risk loosing one. Maybe being somewhat deaf while on the trail makes me less bothered by other peoples music. My wife claims my hearing is selective.

I think all men are accused by their wife of selective hearing. We can hear "time for supper" and cannot hear "take out the garbage". I wear hearing aids also which I do not use while hiking. Actually I think that having hearing aids have made me more reclusive because everything is louder.

I believe that used to be called "tone deafness"? While training can help, there are definitely some people who just can't distinguish musical tones! I'm fortunate enough to be on the other end, with absolute pitch, but most people are somewhere in between in varying degrees. The absolute pitch can be very annoying, too, when musicians get the slightest bit off-key!

Then there was General US Grant in the Civil War, who claimed he knew only two tunes. One was "Yankee Doodle"; the other wan't. Bands playing "Rally Round the Flag" and other of the many patriotic Union songs got waved away from his camp.

Anyway, I sincerely hope that the OP and his friends will seriously consider separate earphones for everyone!

It wouldn't bother me in passing you...different story if I were camped near your music...:)

It isn't just guys! My husband asked me to talk to my doctor about a hearing test. My doctor and my co-workers laughed. I hear just about everything and actually have a hard time filtering - well except for my husband's voice apparently. Though I still think it is his fault - there is something about him and running water - faucets, showers, dish washers etc. As soon as such a noise is going, he's talking

I think the idea of the blue tooth ear phones all bound to the same device as a great idea!

You are on the right way . There is no harm for the other travelers in this way. I also use Headphone .

good thread, close to my heart. The Bluetooth all around is a wonderful solution. I do not believe that in the wilderness there is any such thing as being able to reduce the volume enough, especially for a group, to be unobtrusive to others.
Natural sounds are important to me. I live for owls hooting at night. Wind takes on a special meaning for me in the wilderness. I don't do trips on trails close to town that remind me of rush hour on the interstate.
Good observation above that sound carries farther than we think, especially at night. If I pass a group that is playing music, as soon as I get out of earshot I have to take a short break and recalibrate my pscyh. Seriously.
I'm trying to get away from the city. I live close to a major university and I'm about put out with the kids driving cars with their windows down and boom boxes blaring across the neighborhood. In my own house I have to hear their noise driving up and down the streets. I think about noise footprint. These kids have a footprint of 3-4 city blocks. Isn't that a little gluttonous, or just plain rude?
I urge LNT behavior for noise control. Do not announce yourself to the whole forest with your music. Keep your personal signature small as you move along the trail, leave your noise print as unnoticeable as you plan to leave your camp trace.
My take.