Can the cans?

I like to listen to my music loud.

Not totally stupid Motorhead loud, but loud enough to allow myself to shake my imaginary hair about during the rock tunes.

But my iPod doesn't allow me to do that.

There's an EU imposed noise restrictor which means that certain songs are barely audible at all, particularly the ones which are 're-mastered' as we music folk call tarting up the sound.

I can understand it, they don't want people to make themselves completely deaf by having the volume set at pneumatic drill level.  But by the same token, I'd like it louder than it is.

As old age creeps up on me, the loud music I have listened to all my life has come back to haunt me and it's called tinnitus.  My left ear rings and hisses all the time and particularly late at night when I am trying to sleep.  Thanks to Jethro Tull, Airbourne (the worst culprits) and Status Quo to name but three for that.

I also realise that listening to loud music is not exactly going to cure my bad ears but I would like some choice in the matter.

I was on the aircraft on the way to Greece last year, trying to listen to a few tunes but the droning of the engines was all over the music.

And it's the same everywhere else, walking up the road, sitting on a bus.  It's not bloody loud enough.

There used to be this gadget thingee called 'Gopod'  which would remove the noise limiter but that's all gone now.

I have always preferred the in-ear headphones for matters of convenience and I always think the big ones look a bit mad, but I am going to have to think about it.

I went to PC World tonight and found myself trying out some 'Beats' headphones by Dr Dre who may not be a doctor at all (I seem to remember him producing Mr Mathers at one time). They sounded good too.  As it is almost payday I thought: shall I?

My mind was made up when I saw the price.  £270. Two hundred and seventy quid for a pair of earphones which, I am quite sure, looked more than slightly ridiculous.

How on earth can anyone justify £270 for some cans (as we used to call them), but then I realised that people must be buying them.

They were not stupidly loud but they were louder and fuller and I couldn't hear anything else, like the assistant mouthing "Can I help you, Sir', or maybe it was 'You really are too old to be trying those!"

So I tried a cheaper pair - a mere £130, these - and they sounded pretty good too.  I'm going to have to save up.

I still cannot get over the iPod malarkey.

As recently as 1992, we went to the Greek Island of Skopelos for a fortnight and I took my Sony Walkman and about a dozen tapes, which took up most of my hand luggage.

Today, I have this contraption which is smaller than my Walkman and contains nearly 12,000 songs, almost all of which are detested by Mrs J. (Result!)

In the meantime, I have a dilemma.  I want to listen to my music on holiday and I want to hear it loud enough to make it worthwhile.

Do I have to just put up with quiet music, should I invest in a big fuck off pair of headphones or is there a tweak to the iPod I don't know about?  Knowing Apple, there is no tweak available and if there is they will do something very quickly to make sure it isn't there for long.

I hope I found out soon, certainly before my tinnitus gets much worse.