Edit: No, I can't really use bluetooth here since a) 99% of guitar amps have no BT support and b) the latency is noticeable.
Can still be done with a dongle at least.
>> Rockstar -> ...looks like Belkin still does user research ;-)
Regular people these days use Bluetooth audio.
That leaves people who just want wired headphones. Plenty of cheap USB-C to 3.5mm adapters out there.
> K-12 schools will have to replace their existing headphones with USB-C models
No, they just need adapters. These are fairly cheap, especially when purchased in bulk (which is what a school would do).
I agree re charging, and personally I wish things stayed on Lightning for a while longer. But USB-C charging cables are also fairly cheap, thankfully.
There is always a transition cost. I don't personally believe there is much benefit going from Lightning to USB-C except for transferring large files (videos), but it arguably means we need to carry fewer cables when traveling.
What is the alternative? Android tablets are no drop-in replacement. Ipads are great for music production. Many great apps only exist on iOS. Bluetooth audio introduces a delay which makes playing software instruments live impractical. So dongles until Apple comes to reason.
Now you're upsold $169 airpods from apple, or $79 power beats (also from apple). The experience is better, sure, but they also left nothing to chance here by closing the door on your existing cheap wired headphones.
…… anonymous Apple designer.
At some point, things change. We're at that point with wired headphones. You can already share Bluetooth headphones across a Mac/iPhone/Tablet with extreme ease. And if you really want, you can adapt regular wired headphones to bluetooth.
And on iPads specifically, it's not like people are carrying them around in their pocket to listen to music.
I don't care what anybody says: bluetooth is still trash:
- I routinely block bluetooth signals with just my body, for instance when I exercise with my phone in my pocket.
- Bluetooth headphones live on borrowed time since batteries are not repairable in most over-ear models, much less buds.
- I don't want to manage another set of batteries.
- Bluetooth audio suffers from an order of magnitude greater latency than wired audio.
- Bluetooth audio is noticeably worse quality, and codec compatibility is a mess between devices.
- Using bluetooth for audio input and output simultaneously inevitably results in garbage quality for both. Just ask any of my coworkers in an audio call where they use AirPods.
Obviously floppy discs are not needed anymore, especially in mobile form factors.
By "USB sticks," I assume you're referring to USB-A ports, and guess what: I still have a ton of USB-A devices, and I'm not about to generate pounds of ewaste by throwing out the devices and/or cables. That port is going to be useful for years still. But you bring up a good point: why can't we at least have two USB-C ports on the iPad Pro? Wouldn't it be useful to charge and use a peripheral sometimes?
People play games and watch videos all the time on iPads. The aux jack is useful. There's almost certainly enough free space in the chassis to fit the port. It's great that you're utterly in love with bluetooth and you can't imagine using anything else, but it really sucks for everyone else that we don't even have an option any more.