[pct-l] Audio Books

[Will Hiltz]

There might have been a thread about this some time back... Has anyone had
any experience in using Berlitz tapes or some other foriegn-language
recordings on the trail?  Back on the AT I had this cheap tape player and my
buddy and I went off and on for about a week listening to Italian Berlitz
tapes in southern/mid Vermont.  For some reason I remember this as being an
unbelievable amount of fun-- perhaps because day hikers were astounded to
see us in full gear reciting "bene, graze" and "zona fumatori?" out in the
woods.  The problem with this was that the batteries were good for about
half a day before the voice on the recording starts to get a little
ssslllloooowww.  I would imagine there are berlitz-type things available on
itunes, right? Anyone know/know of good ones?


The second issue slightly related to this is my unwillingness to use the
earbuds.  Not having travelled too exstensively in snake country and knowing
the average hiker sees 5-6 rattlers, I'm not sure that I'm comfortable
rocking down the trail with buds in if I need to be on the lookout (and
listenout) for said snakes.  I think maybe Switchback posted a while back on
some sort of audio setup that obviates the need for earphones... how do
others deal with this?

Any guidance appreciated in the next 34 days...


YITOOD,

Will