Last minute X-mas Gift: Waterproof MP3 Player

By Heather Huntington on December 23rd, 2009

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Christmas is mere moments away. And if you are still looking for a gift, allow me to suggest this: A waterproof MP3 player.

I am not an exerciser by nature. I somehow lack that endorphin rush you are supposed to get afterward, and instead of feeling both flooded with rewarding chemicals and the smug feeling of having done something good for my health/ass size, I usually just feel sore, tired, and basically very, very terrible.

One type of exercise I don’t mind is swimming. I can moderate my pace well enough to not wear myself out totally, and everyone says it is just tremendous for you. The trouble with swimming is: I get bored. Terribly, terribly bored. I’m sure some people like all that nice down time to zen-out or think, but for me it is the major hurdle to getting me in the pool.

That is until my husband – a former college swim team captain – told me there is such as thing as a waterproof MP3 player. I did a little research into the matter and – what do you know? – he was right.

You can get your waterproof MP3 playing itch scratched in a couple of different ways, as far as I can tell. First, the straight up waterproof MP3 player, like the Freestyle. They are tiny and light, come with an armband and special waterproof headphones that mostly keep the water out (note: you definitely need the swim cap and/or goggles to keep the water from jarring them loose during laps).

I am not much of a fan of the user interface for these, however, once you wrangle with them a bit (getting stuff to play in the order you want can involve some set up), it’s lovely. You can pick music, listen to the radio (seriously), or, like me, put books on tape on there (nothing like a good story to keep me interested in the pool). I had this one and was quite happy with it. Note: no matter what it tells you, this does NOT interface well with a Mac. I was fine while I had a PC, but when I switched over, no matter how I tried, I could NOT get it to work right.

The other option is using your iPod products with waterproof housing. After I gave up on the Mac and my Freestyle ever liking each other, I went this way – putting an old shuffle into an otterbox (and re-using the armband and the headphones from my Freestyle). You can’t beat the ease of the user interface with the iPod products, although they don’t have the AM/FM radio option if that’s your gig.

Either way, I am invariably the envy of my fellow swimmers. I am stopped nearly every time I get into the pool so people can ask me about the MP3 players. People seem shocked and overwhelmed by how cool it must be. It’s not an expensive prospect (like $100 to get kitted out), so I just don’t know why more people don’t have them. It is, quite simply, totally awesome.

And with that New Year’s resolution you’re bound to make to get to the gym, doesn’t this seem like the perfect gift to put you over the edge?

Source: www.dvice.com