Wired News: Feel Free to Jack Into My iPod

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Wired News: Feel Free to Jack Into My iPod

Leander Kahney for Wired News writes about the ‘jack sharing’ phenomenon reported earlier on iLounge. In his story Kahney talks to Steve Crandall (known as ‘esc’ in the iLounge forums) about his recent experience with ‘jack sharing’ in his hometwon in New Jersey. The story goes on to expose other ‘jack sharing’ locales, including Cambridge, UK.

“‘She walked right up to me and got within my comfort field,’ Crandall stammered. ‘I was taken aback. She pulled out the earbuds on her iPod and indicated the jack with her eyes.’

Warily unplugging his own earbuds, Crandall gingerly plugged them into the woman’s iPod, and was greeted by a rush of techno.

‘We listened for about 30 seconds,’ Crandall said. “No words were exchanged. We nodded and walked off.’”

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Comments

1

this is precisely why I don’t wear the earbuds anymore (besides not being good, sound wise), i don’t want strange people walking up to me and yanking on my chord until a rush of music explodes out of the hole in the top.

Posted by dave on November 21, 2003 at 7:23 AM (PST)

2

Must….resist…..jack….joke….

Posted by MeanE on November 21, 2003 at 8:31 AM (PST)

3

The only problem with this (I think its a rather cool social phenomenon) is that you are defining someone by 30 seconds of one song. If I did this with 50 different people, I would get 50 different reactions.

Don’t judge me by my songs!

Posted by gti on November 21, 2003 at 8:36 AM (PST)

4

Songs define you…I picked the songs that are in my Pod, there for they define a little bit about me…

Posted by Mappro on November 21, 2003 at 9:43 AM (PST)

5

The whole thing kind of creeps me out to tell the truth. I don’t want to go plugging into some stranger on the street. There’s no telling where they’ve been or who’s plugged into them before. :-p

Posted by jd on November 21, 2003 at 11:30 AM (PST)

6

stranger asks to plug his jack into your hole..

sounds BAD

Posted by stasyna on November 21, 2003 at 11:41 AM (PST)

7

If you read some of the other article on Wired, it tells you about iTunes music sharing. Thats a better article than this…. how can I put it nicely? Wackos plugging into other people’s iPod.

Posted by Give a hoot, don't pollute on November 21, 2003 at 1:22 PM (PST)

8

These people are nut case. You walk away without a word? wtf is up with that? Only time i ever do this is with my friends, we trade ipods at school somtimes. But that’s between friends, doing this with a stranger makes you look your deperate for a social life.

Posted by Bob on November 21, 2003 at 6:32 PM (PST)

9

So, if we get a bunch of guys together in a circle, with an I-Pod and an Oreo in the center, would that be ‘Circle-Jacking’?

Posted by Angry Black Man on November 21, 2003 at 6:46 PM (PST)

10

What if I’m just randomly cycling through my 5,000+ songs and some babe plugs into my iPod right when a Kenny Rogers song comes on (yeah, he’s in there)? My god, I could be branded because of her unfortunate timing.

Posted by Oxhead on November 25, 2003 at 10:13 AM (PST)

11

Maybe this new phenomenon should be called “iJacking” = the taking over of another’s iPod jack.

Posted by DarrenW on November 26, 2003 at 12:14 AM (PST)

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