Random Thoughts - Part Deux [NO POLITICS]

[MuseChaser]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Mine is on about 99% of the time during my 12 to 14 hours I week I spend in the car. My commute is about an hour each way. I divide the time pretty much with 10 minutes news each way, then the rest is either spent listening to talk radio, music on an iPod (I listen to our family's music collection in alphabetical order by song title, gives me a very eclectic mix through the 5,000 or so songs) and more recently audiobooks.

If I'm doing more "seriously fun" driving though I usually have it off.

Except for the fact that my commuting time has seriously decreased in the past year and a half, you pretty much described my car audio system usage to a T. Bulk of the time, talk radio. When I can't take talk radio anymore or I'm driving through areas where there simply aren't any stations, I switch over to a thumb drive in the USB port and listen to my jazz CD collection in alphabetical order by artist's first name. I was NEVER so relieved when I finally got through the "Eric Dolphy" discs...

I've tried audiobooks, but I've never been able to pay attention long enough to follow the plot. Don't know why.. I can listen to two Mahler symphonies back to back and remain enthralled, but once someone starts reading to me, I tune out almost immediately. I still remember that being a problem back in HS when taking English and foreign language tests that required me to listen to a passage then answer questions or write an essay about what I had just heard. I simply couldn't stay tuned in. Music.. I can listen critically and analytically for hours. Language... purely visual. I read about 20 times faster than folks talk (as do most of us) and I just don't have the patience to listen to folks read out loud. Wish I could.. I like the concept of audiobooks a LOT for long rides.

[ichitaka05]

Originally Posted by Allch Chcar

Are we getting a downvote system that hides posts?

Oh how I wish, we had that. That'll make thing A LOT better in this forum.

Originally Posted by SoNotCool

seriously though, why do the even put radios in our car's ...... who actually uses them rofl ... i spend more time with it off then i do with it on...

I do! I don't really listen to what's on. I just like to have music in the bg.

Originally Posted by Cole

Daddy bought an air compressor. Makes changing the wheels so much easier. Also, Kics R40 lugs are mint

I know what you mean. I don't have compressor ver impact wrench, but I have the battery operated impact wrench and it help swap my wheels out when I go to autox.

[MuseChaser]

Originally Posted by krayzie

I reckon 8 track never had it this cool.

How about one of THESE bad boys?

Probably should have posted a larger image.. it's an elcaset machine. The cassette is about twice the size of a regular cassette and uses 1/4" tape in six tracks instead of 1/8" tape in four tracks like a standard cassette. All seven people who owned these loved them.

[krayzie]

Originally Posted by MuseChaser

it's an elcaset machine.

One of those crazy Sony "I can do it better than all of you" things I've never seen in real life but only read about. Here's another.

[Teseo]

Originally Posted by Cole

Daddy bought an air compressor. Makes changing the wheels so much easier. Also, Kics R40 lugs are mint

One lug nut are different of the others?

[Phijkchu]

Originally Posted by krayzie

You can probably still buy one of these if you look hard enough.



But that heavy duty motorized antenna is still the coolest shit on the car, almost as cool as the pop-up headlights on my high school gf's Honda Accord.

Ooooh, I was looking at the CD player adapters and those cost too much so this seems right. The antenna on mine broke and my dad and I replaced it but it doesn't retract all the way anymore :/

[humfrz]

Speaking of recording devices ...... when I was a kid I had access to and a lot of fun with, a wire recorder (that my uncle left on the farm).

Side note: The Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute, where I worked for about a year, further developed, and made economical the wire recorder.

NO @Tcoat ...... NOT while I was working there!

Where were we .......??

Oh, the baby needs ah changen ...... be right back ........

[krayzie]

Originally Posted by Phijkchu

Ooooh, I was looking at the CD player adapters and those cost too much so this seems right. The antenna on mine broke and my dad and I replaced it but it doesn't retract all the way anymore :/

Yea before average folks could afford CD headunits or changers in the trunk they used a cassette adapter to hook up a Discman. They even sold a suspension mounting plate so the unit wouldn't skip. Most had backlit LCD and buttons thru DC power and a wireless infrared remote could be added. Kinda ghetto tho lol!

I'm amazed how thick the Toyota antenna is compare to the flimsy Honda one. If it's bent ever so slightly then it won't retract all the way. We used to go thru a lot of the Honda ones and it got real expensive.

[Cole]

Originally Posted by Teseo

One lug nut are different of the others?

Yeah, they take a special key.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by MuseChaser

Except for the fact that my commuting time has seriously decreased in the past year and a half, you pretty much described my car audio system usage to a T. .....

Couple of things.

Your experience with "Eric Dolphy" runthrough is why I listen to mine alphabetically by song title. Keeps it mixed up better. One song I'm listening to ZZTop, next one is AFI, maybe some Johnny Cash followed by Aerosmith.

Given that you listen to talk radio, it's interesting you struggle with audiobooks. I didn't think I would like audiobooks, but actually they grew on me. I had an "optional" management book to go through so tried it there first. Now doing a Clancy novel (read by Lou Diamond Philips) and have enjoyed it. Part of it may be that when reading fiction I tend to read slow, basically like I am reading it to myself anyway so my pace isn't much faster than an audio book.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Cole

Yeah, they take a special key.

Yep.



humfrz

[Cole]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Yep.



humfrz

If someone wants to go through that much effort to steal 200 dollar wheels, they're more than welcome to.

[MuseChaser]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

...
Your experience with "Eric Dolphy" runthrough is why I listen to mine alphabetically by song title. Keeps it mixed up better. One song I'm listening to ZZTop, next one is AFI, maybe some Johnny Cash followed by Aerosmith.

Maybe I'm missing a function somewhere.. if so, PLEASE let me know. I've got the basic 2013 head unit in my FR-S. When I play from the thumb drive, unless I manually choose what to play, it plays alphabetically by artist's first name, and I don't see any way to change that. Maybe it's due to my directory structure; root - artist first then last name - album title - individual track files. My previous playback device, an old Sansa Clip mp3 player, would playback everything in song title order, as you suggested. That was equally difficult going at times; in jazz, there's a TON of different recordings of the same tune by different artists, so, for instance, I'd have to listen to maybe fifteen recordings of " 'Round Midnight" before getting to twelve versions of " 'Swonderful." Yes, every song that started with punctuation mark played first... hehehehe.

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Given that you listen to talk radio, it's interesting you struggle with audiobooks. I didn't think I would like audiobooks, but actually they grew on me. I had an "optional" management book to go through so tried it there first. Now doing a Clancy novel (read by Lou Diamond Philips) and have enjoyed it. Part of it may be that when reading fiction I tend to read slow, basically like I am reading it to myself anyway so my pace isn't much faster than an audio book.

Never thought about the apparent disconnect between my enjoyment of talk radio vs my inability to focus on audiobooks. I think the improvisatory nature, i.e., natural conversational speech, of talk radio commands my attention, much like having a real person there conversing with me, whereas someone droning on in a rehearsed fashion, no matter how interestingly they may modulate their voice for dramatic effect, makes me feel like I'm being lectured. Just guessing.. I have no real explanation for why I can't stay tuned in. I just know I've tried it a bunch of times over the years, and just can't do it. I've done some learn-a-new-language things in the car w/ some success, but that gets old after a while too.

Thanks for the thoughts.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by MuseChaser

Never thought about the apparent disconnect between my enjoyment of talk radio vs my inability to focus on audiobooks. I think the improvisatory nature, i.e., natural conversational speech, of talk radio commands my attention, much like having a real person there conversing with me, whereas someone droning on in a rehearsed fashion, no matter how interestingly they may modulate their voice for dramatic effect, makes me feel like I'm being lectured. Just guessing.. I have no real explanation for why I can't stay tuned in. I just know I've tried it a bunch of times over the years, and just can't do it. I've done some learn-a-new-language things in the car w/ some success, but that gets old after a while too.

Thanks for the thoughts.

Although I've never listened to one I can imagine feeling about it just as you describe.