So iPod shuffle is a tiny little tube of metal with a long cord that goes to some earbuds. Many people, to include my son and I, get larger, over the ear style headphones to replace the earbuds. These then dwarf the iPod, such that you have a big thing on your head, and a lilttle dangly string with a metal lure on it hanging down.
Why can’t I put the iPod on some sort of docking site on the headset, just plug it directly into one of the earpieces, or on the connecting headband, and have a single unit, no cord at all.
Not everybody thinks the Ipod-headphone-dock idea is a good one. Here’s one nomination for “worst idea ever”.
“Just looking at them brings up visions in one’s head of walking down the street with an iPod sticking out of their earphones, the crippling awareness of everyone staring at you and that familiar feeling of wanting to dig a hole in the sidewalk to hide from the world in it. Not to mention the comfort issues you imagine, what with that extra weight on one side of your head and all. These things would probably always be sliding down on the iPod side, making you look even dumber as they perch precariously lopsided on your head. Furthermore, if there has ever been a mugging magnet this is it. This is the equivalent of walking through Central Park at night with a $20 taped to your forehead, but instead of a $20 it’s a $250 piece of electronics. Seriously, who designed this?”
Well, in fairness, the picture in that link shows an iPod Nano stuck to the headphones, not a Shuffle. There is a significant difference in both size and weight between the two. Not to mention that the headphones themselves are rather huge. Clip a current generation Shuffle to those monsters and it would be hardly noticeable.
I think this is what happens when people write reviews without thinking or trying the product.
First of all, I know of no one who uses over-the-ear headphones in public (except on airplanes). Most people use them at home. So, to criticize them based on walking down the street or through Central Park is a bit like criticizing a grand piano for not being portable enough.
Second, he criticizes them for what “would probably” happen, when he clearly has not tried it. My car would probably crash except that it has brakes, a feature that is not obvious in a picture of it.
