Mike Cole wrote:

>Also, I listen more or less constantly when I'm at the computer.

Several other listmembers have said that they listen a lot at the computer,
and this always surprises me.  I have fairly adequate sound off my CD-ROM
drive as well as an old but decent stereo system at the other end of my
study, but I can't listen seriously while the computer is on because I am
too distracted by the noise from the computer's cooling fan and hard disc,
and by the sound of my own typing.  While I'm at the computer I have
nothing playing at all, or speech radio, or classical music that I know
very well, or jazz or rock (yes, even when writing MCML posts - right now
it's the revived Colosseum's "Bread and Circuses", and I report to those
who may be interested - e.g.  fellow drummer Len Fehskens - that Jon
Hiseman is still as great a player as ever).

Serious classical music listening needs more concentration than I
can give it while working at the computer, or while driving - in London
traffic, at least.  I don't have a CD player in the car, and the car radio
tends towards Classic FM rather than Radio 3 until the adverts force a
change.  At home it's always the other way round, but Radio 3's relative
lack of compression and long silences often make it inappropriate for
in-car listening.

If I really want to listen to something properly and compute at the same
time, headphones provide a partial solution - but I just don't like using
them for long periods.

Ian Crisp
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