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Seven years later, Apple was right to kill off the 3.5mm headphone jack
- 57FkMytWjyFu 4y agoAccording to Apple it might be. But we aren't asking any end users in the article, because screw them, right? Anything that enables the environmental irresponsibility of AirPods is only "right" from the perspective of the shareholder. Certainly not the species.
- thebigspacefuck 4y agoWhat is the environmental irresponsibility of AirPods?
- 57FkMytWjyFu 4y agoYou cannot replace the batteries without prying them apart, and Apple by default just tells you to throw them away and buy new ones. There are rare earth minerals in the speaker drivers.
- thebigspacefuck 4y agoIt looks like they recommend recycling them https://support.apple.com/guide/airpods/disposal-and-recycling-information-dev4b98b4784/web https://support.apple.com/guide/airpods/disposal-and-recycli... And use 100% recycled rare earth elements according to the tech specs https://support.apple.com/kb/SP856?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US https://support.apple.com/kb/SP856?viewlocale=en_US&locale=e...
- galleywest200 4y ago1) Your link only mentions the magnets, nothing else in relation to rare earth elements. 2) Plastic is not recyclable in a lot of jurisdictions. Seattle stopped collecting it all together. 3) Most people will not ecycle things. Most people will just throw them in the trash instead of driving to a big box store to drop of headphones for ecycling. 3a) Sure, this behavior is common across electronics (being lazy, throwing away) but when you design an electrical device to never be repaired you are just making things worse.
- 57FkMytWjyFu 4y agoThat's not what they will tell you on the phone. https://youtu.be/RQqk45ps9kg?t=31 https://youtu.be/RQqk45ps9kg?t=31 "It would cost more than it's worth to like... break it apart, to open it up, and replace the battery" (because we designed them that way) Have you ever heard of planned obsolescence? To your second point, the problem isn't that they come from recycled. The problem is that they won't be recycled again.
- scarface74 4y agoHave you seen the tear down of the AirPod? The batteries make up the bulk of it.
- 57FkMytWjyFu 4y agoThat's so weird. My headphones are comprised of mostly.... headphones. And that's not even addressing the issue of the charging curves of lithium batteries that make those batteries fail sooner than they should.
- joshstrange 4y ago> Anything that enables the environmental irresponsibility of AirPods is only "right" from the perspective of the shareholder. Spare me. Companies are busy dumping waste all over this planet and you want me to care about something the size of 2 grapes?
- tanseydavid 4y agoConsidering only the size of the discarded item(s) hardly covers the entire waste scenario.
- joshstrange 4y agoFine, consider the entire "cost" of manufacturing, shipping, etc. I'd wager my 1 pair of AirPods is hilariously tiny verses what some companies do in a hour if not a few minutes. Framing this as an environmental issue is just ridiculous. It's the same BS behind oil companies trying to convince people that not recycling is the big issue, not them.
- 57FkMytWjyFu 4y agoWay to miss the point. You're going to use a lot more than 1 pair, Buster!
- joshstrange 4y agoOh the humanity! I cannot take people like you seriously. I could by 100 pairs and still do considerably less damage than some companies do in the time it takes me to check out.
- 57FkMytWjyFu 4y agoYes, I would care very much about 2 grapes if it cost me 150 bones and 30 minutes to replace them.
- mplanchard 4y agoI’m holding on to my iPhone 6S until it dies irreparably, and would have probably bought a new iPhone by now otherwise, exclusively because all of my headphones are wired and I hate messing with bluetooth. But sure, great decision.
- thebigspacefuck 4y agoWhy wouldn’t the $9 lightning to 3.5mm adapter solve your problem?
- aaaaaaaaata 4y agoThey didn't have one until Apple created it. Now they should have lower fidelity audio, and/or more shit to carry around and fiddle with, and/or fail unexpectedly when least needed? You actually can't understand the consumer side of this? Or just like Apple?
- lillecarl 4y agoI've seen more people with wireless than wired headphones for many years now, there's been a couple of instances since I got my fairphone when I miss the headset jack, mostly in cars with old stereo systems. If I had a car like that I'd buy a Bluetooth DAC probably.
- doubled112 4y agoDo they fail frequently? I'd bet that many (most?) people would plug their headphones into the adapter and leave it until the headphones or adapter failed. Don't get me wrong, I'm not for Apple or the adapter, but I'm not convinced by the adapter hate either. I do wish I could find Bluetooth devices that didn't suck, though.
- aaaaaaaaata 4y agoDo cheap, tiny copper cables fail frequently? How long have you been sampling the electronics market?, heh
- blueflow 4y agoPreviously: "AirPods don't “just work”" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30084901 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30084901
- dougmwne 4y agoThat’s a joke. 7 years later I am still picking up headphones then remembering I can’t plug them in without going to find a dongle. If there was an iPhone with a headphone jack I would buy it.
- scarface74 4y agoI can’t imagine having to use a cord for a headset in 2022. My AirPods switch seamlessly between my Mac, iPad, Watch and MacBook. Cords her tangled, caught in things are horrible for running etc. Not to mention that would I run and go to the gym with just my watch.
- JohnJamesRambo 4y agoBut you look like this guy. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Lobot https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Lobot There’s something retro and cool about cords. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bluetool https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bluetool
- scarface74 4y agoCultural norms change. Everyone thought that the people were going to look silly and pretentious when the AirPods came out. Now it’s normal. The same with the Apple Watch.
- dougmwne 4y agoI have AirPods, but also several sets of earbuds, IEMs, and quality headphones. Once a week I grab a set and realize I can’t plug it in. Doh!
- boh 4y agoFor sure. This seems to be a press agent "inspired" article. Even if you use Bluetooth headphones, why wouldn't you want the option.
- bluefirebrand 4y agoSurely even people who love Apple a lot must realize that this is is just propaganda, right? "Apple was right all along, says Apple"
- hotpotamus 4y agoWhat's funny is that I'm far from an Apple lover and I could be accused of being a shill for removing the headphone jack. I was initially skeptical, but it forced me onto bluetooth headsets which had come a long way up to that point. I listen to podcasts quite a lot, and I'd often snag the cord on door handles (it's amazing how catchy that cable could be), and audio quality isn't a huge factor. So overall it was a good change for me. I feel the opposite about touchid if it matters. Honestly it seems forgotten, but I much prefer the intentionality of touching my phone in order to unlock it as well as having a physical home button.
- jdalgetty 4y agoI'd still rather have the option.
- glennvtx 4y ago1: I do not wish to charge my headphones. 2: I have many headphones with higher quality sound than earbuds can provide. 3: Bluetooth still kinda sucks, even after all this time. 4: Bluetooth is subject to denial of service, security concerns. 5: Apple's purpose with the decision was to increase revenue, that is all. You all are now paying $$$ for headphones with batteries, etc. onboard, and they no longer had to implement an audio amp or jack. win for apple, not the consumer.
- tunap 4y ago6: DRM control over what the user can/cannot listen to.
- joshstrange 4y ago> 6: DRM control over what the user can/cannot listen to. Do you have a real example of this? Because this sounds like BS.
- 57FkMytWjyFu 4y ago
- joshstrange 4y agoIt's salty because it's made up worry. What does CarPlay have to do with DRM? DRM isn't mentioned once in that link and I have no clue what point you are trying to make.
- 57FkMytWjyFu 4y agoCan you play your own purchased music easily with an aux cable like we've been doing for decades? People have been making mix tapes for 40 years. Now you can't do that unless you listen to the track of the day and the promo for the new arsenal of podcasts, and did you know that french fries taste good and they are 300 meters to your west? I want to listen to what I want to listen to. They want us to listen to what is most profitable. DRM keeps me from playing my files. It treats them like viruses. It extends the walled garden to choose what art I'm allowed to appreciate. It's not rights management, it's restriction. The name is a lie.
- boh 4y agoThe culture of "Apple Knows Best" died years ago. People are realizing the lightening port and removing the Jack isn't innovation--it's just a cash grab. At some point there needs to be some sympathy for consumer preferences. I'm an Apple customer due to the bloat/clunkiness of their competitors rather than an appreciation for Apple itself.
- joshstrange 4y agoWired headphones suck for 90%+ of the population. We can talk about the cost of AirPods but they are objectively better in most all situations. I was a hold-out on the AirPods having using bluetooth headphones before and hated them but I got AirPods as a gift and almost immediately fell in love. Way easier to carry (no tangled wires, and yes, I knew how to wind them up but that wasn't always foolproof), super easy to pop in your ears for a few minutes or a few hours, and no cables to get in your way. I lost my original AirPods (or they were stolen) and I decided to just use the wired headphones while I continued to hope they would turn up. WIthin 2 days I had an order placed for a new AirPods because wired headphones are a huge step backwards (wires get caught on things and tug at your ears when you extend too far). I generally find audiophiles to be nearly completely full of shit when it comes to "audio quality" and while I know bluetooth doesn't allow for the highest quality possible it's well past "good enough".
- 57FkMytWjyFu 4y agoShow your sources for that 90 percent claim. You're not having a good faith discussion, and emotion is making (or losing!) your argument. Maybe ask yourself why you're so unwilling to be wrong? Perhaps sunk cost fallacy?
- anthk 4y agoAhem. On headphones Pros: - Not bound to an insecure protocol. - Compatible with jacks a century old. - Decent headphones can cost as low as 5EUR on a convenience store and still sound better than most of BT headphones Cons: You can't do jogging fine, but you have tiny and cheap media players with clips easily attached to the neck of your T-shirt.
- Sohcahtoa82 4y agoIt's easy to act like any change to your product was the "right" thing to do when people are going to buy your product no matter what you do.
- moogly 4y agoIf I use the same pair of headphones paired to my work computer and my phone, I cannot unlock and look at my phone without it taking over. I have "solved" this by having three pairs of headphones. #1 paired to my phone. Used for my commute. #2 left at work, paired with the computer. #3 left at home, paired with the computer when I'm WFH. It gets expensive/old pretty fast. Also a lot of charging needs to be done.
- dmz73 4y agoApple charges more for less and their users line up to pay instead of walking away. As long as this keeps happening, Apple will keep taking away and gouging their users. People are stupid and gullible so I think Apple is doing the right thing here - fleece the sheep while they keep coming. The main downside is that other companies observe this behaviour and try to emulate it but that doesn't work because people who avoid Apple probably don't want to pay premium for substandard products so these companies die of and there is less and less competition and innovation in the market so we are left with Apple and Samsung $1200 phones/tablets instead of decent XYZ brand devices for more reasonable price - say $300-$500.
- dev_tty01 4y agoSo, I guess there is no possibility that their hundreds of millions of customers recognize that they are paying more for more? I guess all of us are just idiots. Markets don't work that way. Over time unsatisfied customers change the market dynamic. That hasn't happened. Perhaps you should reevaluate your criteria for determining "more" and "less" in terms of product value to the consumer.
- LargoLasskhyfv 4y agoMarkets work by way of hype. Among that artificially creating the impression of wanted hotness, by hiring student extras camping in front of the store, which opens the next day.
- nkotov 4y agoI love having AirPods Pro. Super easy, seems to just work™. Where I have issues with connecting to vehicles. I have a pickup truck that has bluetooth and a 3.5mm jack. The problem is that when I start the truck, it takes about a minute for it to connect to my iPhone. While it's connecting, it's playing FM radio extremely loud. It's gotten to the point now where I just gave up on bluetooth and use a permanent dongle to 3.5mm just so that I don't have to deal with bluetooth.
- archagon 4y agoBluetooth headphones are good != Apple was right to remove the jack There is no reason to remove a feature that works perfectly and is invaluable in some situations. Bluetooth headphones will never be sufficient for music performance, audio production, and rhythm games, for example. And it's not like Apple shies away from features that affect only a tiny portion of their userbase, such as Lockdown Mode.