On a side note, do a lot of people really listen to music while swimming? In college I used to do 30 minutes of laps in the pool a couple times a week. I liked doing it precisely because you couldn't listen to music and you'd have to focus on keeping good form. It was just you and the water.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_18?url=search-alias...
"I'm not weird, I'm an early adopter."
Challenges I see:
- Cords get tangled really easily due to the nature of the sport (Solution - make them completely in ear)
- Bulkiness slows you down or at least presents issues when they fall out (see solution 1)
- There is no easy way to control volume or change the song (solution - perhaps use something in your mouth to "chew" on to change these parameters maybe?)
Swimming (especially the 3-4k I do almost daily) can be painfully dull, so the demand is sort of there, but it seems the amount of tech involved far outweighs the presumed benefit (and therefore demand).
I'm with you: I prefer being present and in the pool when swimming. One of the things I dislike about gyms is the (almost always crap) music played.
Well, as far as I know this wasn't really possible without getting some expensive equipment (both player and earbuds). Not that I really searched for it, but just nobody does it (and so nobody even thinks of doing this or searches for it).
Seeing how many people listen to music in the gym or while jogging, I wouldn't be surprised if there was an uptick in listening to music while swimming now. Although, I haven't actually clicked the link yet, they may need to ship earbuds/headphones with it, and I don't know how well they work when they need to be watertight.
I would clip it to my goggle strap and swim about an hour a day 3 days a week back when I lived by a pool. The ipod shuffle really was an amazing form factor for the player as it had the clip built in which could clip to the straps.
The headphones were always a different story. You need specially made earbuds which a) use a waterproof membrane instead of a mesh for the speaker and b)fit tight enough in your ear so water wouldn't get in and fill the air chamber in front of the speaker. It took me 3 tries to find headphones that would stay in and be airtight.
It came with 3 sizes of earbuds, I had to use different sizes in each ear. They are terrible headphones, but they stayed put in the water.
Probably pretty terrible.
Swimming a mile or more is a chore simply because it gets boring. I would absolutely love a cheap(ish) and reliable mp3player to swim with.
In all fairness, the moment the video dove under water, I was like "oooh, sweet silence".
On the other hand, I always have fast upbeat pounding techno music on while running, and it really helps me.
I am not a morning person.