The funny thing (to me) about this thread is that I started out asking flyfishinpacker about his motivation for listening to music in the wilderness. Then the "lively debate" ensued. Then, that made me think about it more, and I remembered that when I spent a summer backpacking & camping alone in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, when I was 17, I too brought along electronics. Though in those days it was a little transistor radio
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. I definitely didn't play music out in the open, and didn't listen while I was hiking - that's definitely not my thing, then or now, ... but I did listen to it with a little earphone, in my tent, in the evening before going to sleep (and on rainy days when I didn't feel like hiking).
These days I don't carry so much as a Nano or Shuffle with me backpacking, at least in summer. Maybe that'll change when I go out in the winter, since the nights are so long.
Hmmm, as they say, "the more things change, the more they stay the same".
![smile :)](./images/smilies/smile.gif)