AirPods Are a Tragedy
vice.com
vice.com
True, I would wish the headphones to be more repairable, but there’s a big difference between designing a repairable washing machine and repairable wireless headphones. The design constraints are pretty tight I imagine.
Writing such hateful and poor quality articles is not going to improve anything.
All? My Sennheiser Urbanite XL has screws hidden behind the removable ear pads, I'm pretty sure the battery is easily replaced. Except it doesn't have to be replaced yet.
Apple should be held to the highest standard, considering they are the world's richest and most successful company.
Frankly, Apple disgusts me
As someone who dislikes Apple, you’ll be pleased to know that their stock price could go all the way back down to levels as low as the ones that obtained before Steve Jobs returned as CEO. In fact, their shares could hypothetically go all the way to zero as the company failed completely.
Even in this preposterous (and tremendously implausible) scenario, Apple would be a company that failed as it tried to sell physical products and continued to go to battle for the privacy rights of its users.
And this is the company that disgusts you? Not the ones who profit by using dark patterns to monetize every misbehavior and bad habit of their users?
I'm not saying that other tech companies are any better, I'm saying that Apple, being the richest and most successful, should be pioneering change in the tech sector on all fronts, but most importantly social and environmental.
But even given this motive, I view privacy as the single most important issue in the tech industry at this time. I therefore am very glad that at least one powerful company is making a stand against the most nefarious practices of the others. So Apple will have my loyalty in my purchases as a consumer until they move away from the positions they have staked out. And, I hope the market will continue to reward them handsomely for what they are doing.
Such a strong statement! I look forward to the rest of your comment wherein you detail these "irrelevant infos and memes" and "hate".
> Most of what’s written applies to all wireless headphones, wired headphones or even other consumer electronics.
So after complaining about "irrelevant info and memes" you're leading with whataboutism? Where's your evidence for your initial statement?
> Also, Apple has a recycling program.
Big whoop. So does Best Buy, Walmart and Target. That doesn't change the fact that wired headphones could last 20 years whereas the ones Apple now pushes could never ever last that long.
> Would it be too much journalism to say why it doesn’t change the situation?
Would it be too much to ask for you to support your initial statements with some actual evidence? Anyway, I thought it was obvious that a recycling program wouldn't change the situation.
> If they managed to recycle most of the AirPods, then I’m mostly happy with the product, and it’s entirely my fault if it ends up on a landfill.
So, it's your fault that Apple sells overpriced crap that sounds bad and and has to be recycled after a year of usage, but they market it really well so that people that are naturally susceptible to such types of marketing are forced to buy it as a status symbol? I don't think so. Seems like a societal/biological issue.
> True, I would wish the headphones to be more repairable, but there’s a big difference between designing a repairable washing machine and repairable wireless headphones. The design constraints are pretty tight I imagine.
Headphone jacks worked great since forever. What ever happened to those? I guess you blame Vice for marketing a worse replacement and engineering it to look like a better option by removing headphone jacks?
> Writing such hateful and poor quality articles is not going to improve anything.
I feel like your analysis is severely lacking here. Frankly, the more people who know about the overpriced, overhyped garbage that Apple sells, the better.
> They can’t be repaired because they're glued together. They can’t be thrown out, or else the lithium-ion battery may start a fire in the garbage compactor. They can’t be easily recycled, because there’s no safe way to separate the lithium-ion battery from the plastic shell.
Whereas with Macbooks they openly tout that https://www.apple.com/environment/
"Built to last as long as humanly possible." -- Apple
That doesn't sound like an Airpod to me.
Which isn't going to solve the problem the article talks about.
They will have to dispose of those lithium ion batteries like everyone else.
That being said I would never buy AirPods. The reason? They make you look like a douche. Maybe the sound quality is indeed good or so I am told, but I don’t care because I don’t want to be seen wearing them. I prefer my Sennheiser 4.40 BT. I know they’re different types of headphones, but I also have Sony SBH70 for listening to music while training. The Sony is pushing 2.5 years and can work for around 6.5 hours on a charge. They’ve paid for themselves a couple of times by now.
Makes me feel good that I got such a good deal on my Audio-Technica ATH-IM04s.
They were normally $700 US but now they are end-of-life I got a new pair for only $391 US. win. The retailer was trying to get rid of them as they were end-of-life stock.
You've pretty much described any ear-bud/canal earphone.
The point is there's choices that have removable batteries, and aren't so wasteful. 18 months is a pathetic lifetime.
I have expensive over ear headphones for use at my desk and I still sometimes use AirPods because they're so lightweight and I don't feel them in my ear at all.
All of the same functionality, without the hassle of recharging, and much less risk of dropping one and losing it. And less expensive, to boot.
The only "downside" is that they don't signal conspicuous consumption like the airpods do.
And the UX of AirPods is such that I never think about charging. EVER. It's as if it has unlimited battery.
AirPods have ruined every other pair of headphones for me in the context of casual listening. For more dedicated "ok let me sit down and really listen" type sessions, I'll still grab my Sennheisers, Fidelios, or Sonys. But more and more, I just can't be bothered to break out the big, expensive sets even if the sound quality is better.
I hate the "you're going to lose it" argument. You can lose anything - including your phone, or wallet. I haven't lost my AirPods in 2 years and if I lost them, I'd immediately re-buy a pair.
I've been through the whole rigmarole of Bluetooth earpieces, wireless headphones, all of that stuff.
The only ones I've kept for years and use every day, never needing a recharge, never needing to be replaced? My inexpensive wired earphones, which sound better than any earphones Apple has ever made and will never run out of battery. Wrapping up the cable takes 2 seconds and they go in my pocket, always ready to go. No planned obsolescence, unlike the Airpods.
>"It's as if it has unlimited battery."
Until the battery dies, as mentioned in the article. Then it's just a useless wasteful trinket that has to replaced.
>"You can lose anything - including your phone, or wallet.
Neither of those are precariously balanced in my ears, just waiting for a bump while biking to knock them loose.
I play 1:1 contact basketball with AirPods on. They don't fall out. Every other pair of headphones I've had (including my Jaybird X2s, headphones built for the gym) would fall out very often.
Wires are actually the biggest factor in headphones popping out while active. If your ears play well with AirPods, then they'll rarely fall out if ever. I do know friends whose ears aren't compatible though and they won't fit them at all - so there's that issue and I'm not sure what % of the population it affects.
> Until the battery dies, as mentioned in the article. Then it's just a useless wasteful trinket that has to replaced.
Fine by me. I had my first gen AirPods for two years, and I used them for hours every single day. I was more than happy to immediately buy AirPods 2 when they came out. I can just send the first gen AirPods back to Apple for recycling.
Look, it's an easy product to make fun of. It has such obvious and controversial tradeoffs. But the moment I tried them, it was so clear that AirPods and other headphones like them are the future. Having wires now feels like going to a Blackberry after trying the iPhone. People forget that the iPhone also made very obvious and controversial tradeoffs in it's first iteration - people balked at the price and the lack of 3G. Didn't matter, the future is here. Form factor is king. Sound quality is secondary and for good reason. People want to make that tradeoff no matter how much audiophiles think it's blasphemy.
That seems so completely and utterly alien to me, this odd obsession with multitasking seems counterproductive.
I enjoy getting away from any kind of electronics and communication while I'm working out, letting me focus completely on the workout and nothing else. Plus sweat ruins earphones and the gym is playing music anyway.
>"If your ears play well with AirPods, then they'll rarely fall out if ever. I do know friends whose ears aren't compatible though and they won't fit them at all - so there's that issue and I'm not sure what % of the population it affects."
That's straying dangerously into "you're holding it wrong" territory.
>"Fine by me. I had my first gen AirPods for two years, and I used them for hours every single day. I was more than happy to immediately buy AirPods 2 when they came out. I can just send the first gen AirPods back to Apple for recycling."
Recycling is not an excuse, it does not absolve you of the responsibility for your over-consumption, nor does it absolve Apple of their wasteful design choices. Airpods are disposable by design. No amount of recycling will ever make up for the fact that their entire design is the very definition of planned obsolescence.
We live in a hype-driven consumption society.
Apple has 24% market share of headphones in the US between their own brand and Beats.