Two of my MP3 players have built-in FM radios, but the reception was so awful I never used them (the radios, that is). I tried several approaches to improve the signal, from draping the headphone cord (which serves as an antenna) around my body in weird ways to wrapping a bare wire around the base of the headphone plug. But nothing worked.
Then, one recent evening as I was washing the dishes and my playlist had started to repeat for the second time, I looked up and noticed a glass suncatcher hanging over the sink. I clipped the MP3 player to the mobile’s string, stretching the headphone cord up to the ceiling in an arc, and suddenly experienced excellent radio reception.
Granted, I was now tethered to the sink like a patient on an IV drip, but I had a mountain of dishes to wash, so it was okay. Microsoft’s lame “Let a professional make your next playlist” line notwithstanding, there’s still some cool stuff on radio.
The player I strung up is a Creative Muvo Micro N200, which is unbelievably small and light. I’m not sure I’d want to try this trick with my burly MadPlayer, especially given the threat of a soapy plunge of doom, but I’m enjoying the new sonic options.
Where have you installed your portable player?
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Audio
Comments (2)
Read More Entries by David Battino.
mystified
Ha ha! Sorry to be obscure. A suncatcher is simply a reflective item hanging on a string near a window. (Here are some examples.) When the sunlight comes through the window, the item (a glass disc in my case) “catches” it and sparkles. The string is looped around a nail I pounded into the wall up near the ceiling.
So just hang your radio from a hook on the ceiling, a curtain rod, or whatever is the right height to stretch out the headphone cord so it makes a better antenna. Sunlight is optional. —David
mystified
This certainly sounds very interesting. I'd probably try to implement it myself. If only...
I don't have a clue what a "glass suncatcher" is or why it should, or should not, be hanging over a sink. (I just looked at my sink, and above it, and did not discover anything I could conceivably describe as a "suncatcher", let alone a glass one or one that does something useful or funny with a glass, or glasses.
Given that I probably don't have a suncatcher (though I may unknowingly), it would also help to know where I might buy one. Or grow one (does it need watering?). Or adopt one (does it need feeding? "suncatcher" sounds like it may be a kind of bird). Specifically in Europe. More specifically in the Netherlands.
Mystified about the good advice...