Yes, it’s true, I don’t have an mp3 player. This is not really by choice, I must admit—my iPod broke a couple months ago and the so-called “Geniuses” at my local Apple store told me that the cost of fixing it would be (shockingly) the same as buying a new one. It really bothers me that Apple’s products (and most gadgets these days) are basically designed to break after about a year, thus forcing you to buy a new one, so I simply refused. I went iPod-less.

I love reading, so I figured my morning commutes would be fine. Think of all the books I could get through! I might finally plow through that stack of New Yorkers under my bed! As for walking around, I’d be better off—less likely to get hit by a bus while crossing the street and not paying attention, less likely to get targeted for mugging, less likely to run into a glass door (yes, this has actually happened to me).

Who am I kidding?

Not having an mp3 player in New York City is excruciating. I here every siren and every cat call as I walk down the street. I sit on the subway and am inundated with noise: crying children, people yelling at each other or cackling loudly, and the garbled feedback from the train announcer. But the worst part? It’s the people with mp3 players who are the most annoying.

Sometimes their music is so loud I can tell exactly what song is playing. Sometimes there are multiple players with competing sounds. Sometimes people are just soooo into their music they feel the need to sing/hum/tap/rap along. They never ever hear you when you say “excuse me”.

Was I like that before? Did I walk around in an iPod fog, oblivious to the goings-on around me? Could you hear Arcade Fire leaking from my little white ear buds? Not having an mp3 player has made me realize just how obnoxious I probably was back when I had one, and yet it makes me yearn for something, anything, to tune them all out.

Maybe I should just buy earplugs?