|
bluefunk
Feb 6, 2005, 1:58 AM
Post #1 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 19, 2004
Posts: 43
|
I read somewhere that MP3 players don't work at altitude. I work at a ski resort and I know mine works at 10,000 fine. I want to brink mine to Denali this June but don't want to srew it up. What is everybodys MP3 altitude record, and did they survive?
|
|
|
|
|
neurostar
Feb 6, 2005, 2:04 AM
Post #2 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Oct 7, 2004
Posts: 153
|
I don't know about them spontaneously breaking due to altitude, but I know playback time will deteriorate due to the cold. But I'm sure you already knew that.
|
|
|
|
|
tyify
Feb 6, 2005, 2:15 AM
Post #3 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Apr 22, 2003
Posts: 905
|
Most mp3 players have very very few moving parts so I see no reason they would break because of that. Maybe it could be because at altitude its typically cold and the LCD's freeze. Batteries arn't near as effective at altitude either. Any of these could be classified as "Not working". What kinda mp3 player you talking about to? The smaller ones are just RAM with a interface....the larger capacity ones like the iPod are actual harddrives...I don't know how they would do at altitude...
|
|
|
|
|
neurostar
Feb 6, 2005, 2:17 AM
Post #4 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Oct 7, 2004
Posts: 153
|
Oh, one thing I've noticed just around town... My ipod screen is extremely hard to read when it's cold out.
|
|
|
|
|
gunksgoer
Feb 6, 2005, 2:41 AM
Post #5 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 1290
|
LCD = liquid crystal display (i think). liquid freezes when its cold. u might be better off with something without a screen (or the smaller the screen the better) and also uses regular batteries, instead of the rechargeable ones in ipods wich can be hard to recharge if u dont have an outlet.
|
|
|
|
|
toaster_rancher
Feb 6, 2005, 2:46 AM
Post #6 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Nov 10, 2004
Posts: 25
|
Yes over 10,000 you are risking your MP3 player. But only a specific kind, portable hardrive players. The iPod is an example. Basically if it makes whirring noises the sucker has a hardrive. This is because normal air pressure mantains a nanoscopic distance between the hardrive's writer and the hard disk itself. A drop in air pressure can cause this writer to whack into the hardisk (imagine xacto knife on CD) and it will severly damage it. A lot of people say that they've brought thier iPod above 10,000 and its been fine (just like you) but this evidence to the contrary of the manufactuer's statement is largely anecdotal. Your safest bet is to leave it at home and pick up a memory stick with playback capability. Those are lighter than hardrive MP3 players too although they do hold less songs. I don't believe that they have the 10,000 restriction.
|
|
|
|
|
outdoorsie
Feb 6, 2005, 3:03 AM
Post #7 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jan 15, 2003
Posts: 302
|
Heh that's interesting. Makes sence, but I hadn't heard much about it. I was thinking about getting one of these microdrives for my digital camera, but if I can't take it up a 14er without risk of a touchdown, maybe it's not worth the investment. :?
|
|
|
|
|
just_me
Feb 7, 2005, 2:18 AM
Post #8 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: May 13, 2002
Posts: 193
|
Toasted_rancher is right. The read/write head in a hard drive flies above the media. The head has an air bearing pattern etched into it that allows it to fly above the media. Heads are guaranteed to work up to 10,000 feet only. Actual performance is subject to a lot of different manufacturing tolerances. You may get lucky and find one that works well above 10,000. Backpacker magazine had an article about climbers in the Himalaya. One climber has his iPod work up t 17,000 feet. However, you may be the unlucky one who MP3 player crashes. Once the heads touch down you will be lucky if it only damages a part of the disk and you loose a song or two. If the head sticks to the disk, it can get ripped of the gimbal, and your player is toast.
If you are going to need reliable memory (whether it is for music or pictures) above 10,000 feet, flash memory is the way to go.
|
|
|
|
|
bluefunk
Feb 7, 2005, 4:56 PM
Post #9 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 19, 2004
Posts: 43
|
Thanks for the help everybody. I think this is the first time I got a question answered on the site without some smart a*& response, thanks
|
|
|
|
|
rendog
Feb 7, 2005, 6:16 PM
Post #10 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jun 30, 2002
Posts: 2468
|
In reply to: Thanks for the help everybody. I think this is the first time I got a question answered on the site without some smart a*& response, thanks
well hell man if I'd known that then I'm sure we coulda figured something put
|
|
|
|
|
josephgdawson
Feb 8, 2005, 5:16 PM
Post #11 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jan 20, 2004
Posts: 303
|
Does anyone have anecdotal evidence of an IPOD breaking at altitude? The theory seems cut and dry and makes sense, but we all know that ratings, such as an IPOD being good up to 10,000, are usually conservative.
|
|
|
|
|
rongoodman
Feb 9, 2005, 1:55 PM
Post #12 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: May 17, 2003
Posts: 82
|
The rating is probably conservative, but at some point the lower air pressure will cause a problem with the disk drive. The obvious solution is to get one of the new iPod Shuffles, which is Flash memory based, with no moving parts or LCD screen. They're about the size of a pack of chewing gum. An external battery pack is coming, which will take two AAA batteries. I was glad to have my iPod with me last year sitting out the snow storm on the Ruth, but the Shuffle appears to have been designed for mountaineering.
|
|
|
|
|
crag
Feb 9, 2005, 2:11 PM
Post #13 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jan 29, 2003
Posts: 623
|
Why would you want to have music drumming in your ears in the first place? To remove yourself from the environment that you're in? To help pass time when you’re tent-bound? I thought that Alpine climbing was about the suffering not the comforts. Unless these memory flash sticks can rid my partner and me for that matter, of the common Patagucci stench I see know need to bring such a device on the mountain. Plus why would I want to drown out the high pitch call of the Marmot as they've located my food stash or the constant bickering of the Ravens. Wouldn't you want to hear the crashing and falling of the ice, the creaking and groaning of the glacier or the mid afternoon avalanche? However if the music can help drown out the little voice in my head as I move above the crux or the “no-turn-around point” of the climb then there is merit in these high altitude devices.
|
|
|
|
|
ikefromla
Feb 9, 2005, 3:23 PM
Post #14 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Oct 23, 2002
Posts: 1216
|
In reply to: Why would you want to have music drumming in your ears in the first place? To remove yourself from the environment that you're in? To help pass time when you’re tent-bound? I thought that Alpine climbing was about the suffering not the comforts. Unless these memory flash sticks can rid my partner and me for that matter, of the common Patagucci stench I see know need to bring such a device on the mountain. Plus why would I want to drown out the high pitch call of the Marmot as they've located my food stash or the constant bickering of the Ravens. Wouldn't you want to hear the crashing and falling of the ice, the creaking and groaning of the glacier or the mid afternoon avalanche? However if the music can help drown out the little voice in my head as I move above the crux or the “no-turn-around point” of the climb then there is merit in these high altitude devices.
heh
|
|
|
|
|
bluefunk
Feb 9, 2005, 4:10 PM
Post #15 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 19, 2004
Posts: 43
|
In reply to: Thanks for the help everybody. I think this is the first time I got a question answered on the site without some smart a*& response, thanks
Ding Ding we have a winner. Thank you Crag for you smart A@# resonse. I was wondering when one was comeing? You are totaly right I see the light. I just sold my house and car and moved in to a cave to comune with nature. Anyway have to go meditate and have sex with a tree, thanks for the advice
|
|
|
|
|
rongoodman
Feb 9, 2005, 4:32 PM
Post #16 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: May 17, 2003
Posts: 82
|
A couple of hours of listening to the snow hit the tent wall might be entertaining--three days was a little hard to take. The guys in the other tents were reduced to playing Batttleship, shouting out the moves from one tent to the oher. I'll be taking my Shuffle back this year and hopefully will only want to use it on the flights up and back.
|
|
|
|
|
crag
Feb 9, 2005, 4:55 PM
Post #17 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jan 29, 2003
Posts: 623
|
In reply to: In reply to: Thanks for the help everybody. I think this is the first time I got a question answered on the site without some smart a*& response, thanks Ding Ding we have a winner. Thank you Crag for you smart A@# resonse. I was wondering when one was comeing? You are totaly right I see the light. I just sold my house and car and moved in to a cave to comune with nature. Anyway have to go meditate and have sex with a tree, thanks for the advice
Sorry was just trying to be funny, if you want to take a compressor up a route have at it, matters not to me. Also, thought the nana-sphincter answer about the writer floating above the media was really cool and the effects of barometric pressure were top notch stuff, would have never thought of it myself, but then again I'm an elitists: :wink:
|
|
|
|
|
kman
Feb 9, 2005, 5:06 PM
Post #18 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Oct 16, 2001
Posts: 2561
|
LCD's are good to approx. -20c before they freeze up.
|
|
|
|
|
all_that_is_rock
Feb 10, 2005, 12:04 PM
Post #19 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Feb 8, 2005
Posts: 291
|
i took my ipod on a failed attempt of danali. i got to about 15,000 feet when i turned back and it worked. to prevent the cold i had a pocket near my armpi so it never got to cold
|
|
|
|
|
esoj00
Feb 10, 2005, 7:34 PM
Post #20 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Feb 9, 2005
Posts: 88
|
Strange enough i have experience here, i lived at 13,000 in quito ecuador and my ipod worked fine, i also am a mountaineer and have summited a couple of 22,000. My ipod ive ran it at 16,000 at base camps but above that it dies, within 1 hour of stead gain, battery almost full as i left base camp and within my jacket, so temp was not an issue. I guess its the preasure up there that screws around with it. Inreply to someone about the music pounding your ears. when your on a 20 hour climb with a 12 hour glacier traverse you start to hate the world, music makes that go away. The guides if gone up with all used radios (fm am) cd playersor tapeplayers, MD's also work. There is something about Hard drives that messes up. My advice get one of those little wearable mp3's those dont have hard drives, thats what im getting for my summer in peru :)
hopes this helps
|
|
|
|
|
bandycoot
Feb 10, 2005, 8:12 PM
Post #21 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Nov 25, 2002
Posts: 2028
|
My buddy is a climbing ranger on Denali. I remember him telling me that everyone's mp3 players broke while they were up there, but I don't remember what part broke. Maybe the battery crapped out, maybe something else. Too bad he moved to Italy, I'll see if I can get clarification from him through e-mail.
|
|
|
|
|
sandbag
Feb 10, 2005, 9:03 PM
Post #22 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jan 12, 2003
Posts: 1443
|
What the hell happened to just taking a good book, a trip journal or a harmonica? Jeebus, next thing you know people will take their portable DVD players if they make them lite enough...... :shock:
A buddy of mine that formerly flew Navy jets said basically the climate control and pressurized cockpits were for the computers. they needed to be 'happy' he explained.... :P
|
|
|
|
|
pixelguru
Feb 10, 2005, 10:01 PM
Post #23 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jul 14, 2003
Posts: 182
|
Now who said you have to listen to MUSIC on your iPod at 14,000 feet. How about a continuous recording of R LEE yelling:
"MOVE YOUR FEET YOUR WORTHLESS MAGGOT!!! WHAT'S THE MATTER, IS THIS MOUNTAIN TOO HIGH FOR YOU? MAYBE YOU SHOULD RUN BACK TO YOUR MOTHER YOU UNORGANIZED PIECE OF GRABASTIC SLIME!!!!"
...and my recommendation is to go with something solid state like an Apple Shuffle. They're smaller, lighter, and when your oxygen starved brain gets confused and tries to brew it like a tea bag, you're only out $100.
|
|
|
|
|
carbo
Feb 10, 2005, 10:02 PM
Post #24 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jul 15, 2004
Posts: 84
|
I just read the article in Backpacker latest issue (Gearguide). In short (as stated by others) it could work fine and it could crash due to harddrive malfuction at lower airpressure. I would get an mp3 player w/o a hardrive like iPod shuffle
|
|
|
|
|
pixelguru
Feb 10, 2005, 10:02 PM
Post #25 of 42
(5624 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jul 14, 2003
Posts: 182
|
Now who said you have to listen to MUSIC on your iPod at 14,000 feet. How about a continuous recording of R LEE yelling:
"MOVE YOUR FEET YOUR WORTHLESS MAGGOT!!! WHAT'S THE MATTER, IS THIS MOUNTAIN TOO HIGH FOR YOU? MAYBE YOU SHOULD RUN BACK TO YOUR MOTHER YOU UNORGANIZED PIECE OF GRABASTIC SLIME!!!!"
...and my recommendation is to go with something solid state like an Apple Shuffle. They're smaller, lighter, and when your oxygen starved brain gets confused and tries to brew it like a tea bag, you're only out $100.
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
