Wrist watches are marvels of compact engineering. Wrist watches are also repairable. These ear buds are, well, ear buds with integrated batteries. Batteries are

Wrist watches are marvels of compact engineering. Wrist watches are also repairable. These ear buds are, well, ear buds with integrated batteries. Batteries are known to wear out, this goes double for the smaller versions which are used in this type of application as those don't have much of a power reserve to account for normal wear. If you ask me what a true 'marvel of engineering' in ear bud land would look like it would most certainly not be a glued-together throw-away product like Apple produces. It would have replaceable batteries, most likely screwed to the device with small screws (viz. the aforementioned wrist watches) or using an integral thread. The price Apple asks for these things gives more than enough room for this extra bit of engineering and hardware. The fact that Apple offers a replacement for ~$60 does not change this, the devices will still end up on the scrap heap.