Before there were iPods, New Yorkers had boomboxes. Since 1992, people have been gathering to celebrate an Unsilent Night, when dozens of portable sound systems play a piece of ambient music simultaneously. Of course, iPods are allowed, and mp3 downloads are available on the Unsilent site...but boomboxes and cassette tapes are the preferred way to go.

Thousands of revelers got together this past Saturday to line up their audio-hardware and press play all at the same time to blast a composition by Phil Kline in Washington Square Park. The event is non-denominational, cacophonous, colorful, and wonderfully New York. Gammablog put together the above video of the event.