The thing about the water is that a lot of times you have other people out so having music to listen to is a way to block out people's questions. Kidding aside, it's one way to be in your own little world.

I use music in my regimen when it involves anything with long distances—if I'm doing a really long crossing, or something that's going to take me a while, music is a good distraction. It's a way to kinda let time go by.

Then I found that surfing with the right song creates a whole other situation that you don't have when you're not listening to the music. It's almost like you use a different part of your brain than you normally would without music. Sometimes I feel like things slow down, and I have more time to do maneuvers and to observe what's happening. (I'm not sure if there's any scientific research on that.)

Obviously, when waves are at 80 feet and our lives are on the line, we're not listening to music. We need to hear what's going on and, being put in a demanding situation, we need to be able to communicate. But we do it a lot on our foil boards—those hydrofoil boards that we ride—and again, with the right song, it's a little bit like a movie with a soundtrack. Music just really turns it into a whole different experience.

Before H2O Audio and the iPod, we had music. We were hungry in the early days, so we had the Walkman. They made a little case for a Walkman, with some earphones. We've been using music in surfing and paddling since it first became available in any form.

Laird Hamilton has been a surfing hero since the 1980s, solidifying his reputation as the king of big wave surfing when he conquered Tahiti's Teahupo'o Reef at its most perilous in August 2000. As an innovator, he pioneered many new activities including kitesurfing, tow-in surfing and hydrofoil boarding. He's on the board of directors at H2O Audio, makers of pro-level waterproof iPhone and iPod cases, and has his own signature line of Surge waterproof earphones, proceeds of which are donated to the Beautiful Son foundation for autism education.

A ClearTouch window allows the user to freely operate the device underwater and it is buoyant enough to float to the surface when a device is inside. The armband is retailing at $70 and $80 for medium and large sizes respectively, and a companion set of headphones dubbed "Surge" is also available for an additional $60. [H2O Audio via Coolest Gadgets]

I could hear the tunes clearly underwater, and the case when closed correctly is absolutely watertight down to 10 feet, so I don't owe Wilson a new iPod classic. (Naturally, due to tub limitations, I couldn't go down the full 10 feet, but if you have a deeper tub than me, feel free to dive down.) The sound was good and the earbuds did not fall out of my ears while I was listening. However, I did have some trouble keeping the buds locked into the headband.

The case worked great and the controls were surprisingly responsive, especially given the fact that there's so much case between your thumb and the clickwheel. I did experience a couple of momentary hang-ups, but they could have been from the iPod classic itself. (The classic is known for the occasional lag.)

If you're looking to take an absurd amount of media with you in the water for swimming, snorkeling, surfing or just the weekly bath, I know no better hardware—and the same waterproof system is available for nanos too. Of course, this level of duck-ass watertightness doesn't come cheap: the case and headphones sell for $90 and $50, respectively. [H2O Audio]
—Special thanks to Sam Mindel for the video help!

Available now for $89.95. – Jason Chen

Product Page [H2O Audio]

Now You Can Watch Movies Underwater [Personal Tech Pipeline]