A noise complaint before 10pm? I’m more concerned with not harming people in the first place, than I am with placing blame. Have you ever been on a bike path, see a pedestrian, rung your bell. No response. Getting closer, start ringing bell more rapidly. Finally decide to call out, , “ on your left”. While slowing down to minimize consequences. Finally seeing a response from the pedestrian, as they turn and step to the left. As you notice the earbuds in their ears. That’s a common experience for me.

I commented on apples map, too. Organic Maps for me!

Perhaps you have heard of people stepping out from behind a bush, unaware that there was an approaching cyclist because that cyclist didn’t realize that there was a need to ring the bell? Have you ever noticed when you phrase a question with a negative assumption it tends to affect how the person responds to that question? Communication takes practice, and with practice can improve over time. I believe in you, and think you have the ability to improve.

I haven’t looked into this so deeply in a while. Thanks for the post! I use VLC, precisely because it plays most anything I throw at it. Cell coverage is spotty, so it’s common to play from files rather than stream. We have a bike ride, doubtless like many cities, social ride meets on the regular. Since Bluetooth, and everyone has a speaker. When I’m riding solo it lets people know I’m coming. Safer that way. I’ve heard people complain they don’t care to hear that cyclists taste in music, which tells me you heard them and weren’t harmed. You’ll hear that music, for a moment, and safely continue on your way. On the group ride everyone plays their own music, call it The Cacophony, if you will. Sometimes the music to the left, to the right match up in interesting ways.