I think it was around my 13th birthday that my parents gave me a cassette player/radio. Man, I was stoked. My first ever cassette tape purchase was...The Spice Girls. What? Don't look at me like that.
When I wasn't in my bedroom using it to record my favorite songs straight off the radio {did anyone else ever do this?} I lugged it around the rest of the house whenever I wanted to dance & sing along whilst doing chores, playing with my sisters, etc. A place it ended up a lot was the bathroom. Steam + power cables probably weren't the best combo but I avidly played my cassette player while I took a shower. I'd belt out Boyz II Men & use my Pantene Pro V shampoo bottle as a microphone. Thus, my love affair with music in the shower was born.
Nowadays, thanks to the world of iPods and fancy mp3 players, many music docks & stations exist but few come with a price tag I can afford. I have an iPhone, but simply setting it down on the bathroom counter and playing music on it doesn't suffice--I can barely hear anything over the sound of running water. This is where my genius boyfriend comes in.
Recently I noticed Glenn start carrying a bowl into the bathroom with him on his way to the shower. Puzzled {and rightfully so}, I asked him what the heck he was doing with that bowl in there. He then proceeded to show me how by placing his iPhone inside the bowl, the sound actually filled up the entire bathroom. It's amazing! I don't know much about acoustics or anything like that but when Glenn explained it to me it totally made sense.
Try this out next time you're en route to lather-rinse-repeat--its pretty neat!
By Emily January 3, 2012
WEIRD AND AMAZING! Must try, thank you lady! <3
By elizabeth January 3, 2012
I LOVED my tape recorder when I was a kid. I used to make “radio shows” in my bedroom! I wish I could find those tapes now.
My bathroom has a separate tub and shower (and it’s huge. I’m pretty sure I’ve rented bedrooms smaller than this bathroom), so I usually position my phone so the sound reflects off of the ledge of the tub. The bowl sounds like a much better idea though.
I really wish I could find an in-shower docking station that I could afford and trusted not to ruin my phone because I’d love to be able to control the music without having to get out. I’m sure that would just lead to me lounging in the shower and watching Netflix, so maybe I’m better off with a bowl.
By Caitlin January 3, 2012
Neat idea! My sister made me an iPhone dock from a book about Russian criminal tattoos. It’s a charging station but I love it!
By Meanz January 3, 2012
Seriously? That’s an awesome discovery! I’ll have to try it.
By Suburban Sweetheart January 3, 2012
Ah, my boyfriend & I did this for awhile before he bought an iPhone dock with speakers that he now uses instead. It works even better if you put the phone or iPod in a wine glass!
By The Paper Mama January 3, 2012
Genious!
By Anna January 3, 2012
Awesome idea! I’ll have to try it. And I LOOOVED making mixtapes with songs off the radio. So retro, man.
By Allie January 3, 2012
…Best blog post ever!!! Life will never be the same!
By Sarah January 3, 2012
That’s pretty funny. I’ve never tried the bowl technique, but I usually point my phone speakers at the wall to get more sound out of them.
By Jennifer January 3, 2012
Haha! That’s awesome. Great idea!
By Alycia January 3, 2012
woah thats cool! i am going to try that! my first tape was paula abdul, forever your girl. i still know all the words to all the songs. don’t ask me how ;)
By Josie January 3, 2012
great idea!
By Danielle January 3, 2012
That completely makes sense, but so easy to overlook! Definitely going to try that out.
By I Bleed Pink January 3, 2012
What an idea…I must try this!
By Ashlee January 3, 2012
I always have the problem of not being able to hear my music! Such an awesome idea! <3
By Krysten January 3, 2012
I always recorded music right off the radio – I wanted to listen to my favorite songs whenever I wanted to!
By amber m January 3, 2012
Oh man, I still love the spice girls! haha.
By Ciera January 3, 2012
Love the new adventure guide!!! I have heard of that iphone trick before, but using a plastic solo cup instead… it is pretty amazing how well it works!
By Andrea January 3, 2012
genius.
i am totally going to do this.
By Jessica January 3, 2012
I saw this idea on Pinterest a while back. I thought it was cool but I have yet to try it out. :D
By Tiera January 3, 2012
Haha, I do that, too! I have a Hello Kitty makeup brush holder that I don’t use, so I keep that in my bathroom for iPhone purposes :) And sometimes I use a tupperware or something when I’m cooking in the kitchen!
By kelly ann January 3, 2012
This. Is. GENIUS. And it makes total sense… I can’t wait to try it!
By Serena January 3, 2012
Love it! I actually use the same principle in the car by placing my iPhone in the cup holder when listening to podcasts.
By Megan January 3, 2012
I used to love recording songs off the radio! Seriously, I used to make legit mix tapes all the time.
By val January 3, 2012
lol man, leave it up to glenn to do that. thats awesome. its because the soundwaves bounce off of the bowl and back out since its concave. its the same effect that cupping your ear to hear better would do.
By Morgan January 3, 2012
GENIUS. You are my hero. I don’t have a portable iPod dock to tote with me to the bathroom [gotta love dorm life], but I’ve missed music while I shower so terribly! It made for a long semester. Thanks so much for the tip!
By Carmen Mariah January 4, 2012
SO HELPFUL! This is tip will be so much better than lugging my laptop into the bathroom every time I shower.
PS- Totally remember recording songs off the radio!! I’d always get either a little bit of the DJ intro or the song after. Imperfect system, but damn I loved it.
By Rachael January 4, 2012
That is an awesome idea! I never would have thought of that!
But hey, I loved the Spice Girls too back then! I had the cd! And my sister and I always recorded songs from the radio! We played them all the time! Gosh, those were the days!!
By Jess Lonett January 4, 2012
i totally used to record stuff off the radio on my purple boom box. i’d always listen to the “hot 8 at 8″ on our local station to make sure i had all the best tunes. my first tapes were celine dion & jewel. it was great. it’s sad that this upcoming crazy digital kiddos wont have that tangible first, i mean who keeps track of “my first mp3 download”?
By Joy January 4, 2012
it works! you’ve revolutionized my shower experience! also i used to make mix tapes all the time, my jam was ace of bass though ;)
By Ashlee January 5, 2012
That Glenn….he’s a smarty pants. Totally trying this.
By liz January 5, 2012
who would have thunk??? thanks for sharing!
By Kristin January 5, 2012
Yes! This really works – I saw it in Real Simple a few months ago and have done it ever since…the bowl you picked out is way prettier than the cereal bowl I’ve been using – ha! :)
By Adeline January 5, 2012
GIRL POWER FOREVER!
By Jennifer M. January 13, 2012
Wow – interesting! I’m totally going to try that! Thanks for the tip. :)
By Alice January 16, 2012
Revolutionary!!! Haha very excited to try this- we have an annoying fan that comes on with the bathroom light so hopefully I can hear over that too now.