My ears are sore, thanks to my iPhone.
Not from listening to my music too loud, although I have been known to do that from time to time. No, my ears are sore because my Apple earbuds were violently ripped out of them.
It was not some strange White Earbud Vandal who ripped my earbuds out. In fact, the only person I have to blame for my sore ears is myself. Allow me to explain.
The audio system in my car does not feature Bluetooth or any direct connect audio input. Instead, to connect my iPhone to the car audio system, I use a cassette adapter. Not elegant, but the audio quality is better than an FM Transmitter. Unfortunately, I had taken the adapter out of the car yesterday, and didn’t remember doing so until I had already left home today. So I plugged in the earbuds that came with my iPhone, left for months in my glove compartment, and was enjoying music that way.
When I got out of the car, I forgot about the headphones. My seatbelt, however, must have thought it would be fun to snag on the white headphone cable as it retracted into its home above my left shoulder. That’s one way to take earbuds out, and quickly! Ouch!
More often than not, when this happens, it is the iPhone itself that goes flying, not my earbuds. Nothing says “AppleCare” like watching your iPhone bounce off a cement floor, all because of the headphone cable and jack.
So the thought came to me: what if Apple were to use a MagSafe plug for headphones? The MagSafe, of course, was introduced by Apple in 2006 with that years MacBook Pro. The power cable is held in place by magnets. It is secure, but even a gentle tug will pull it free.
Why not use the same technology for headphones? Call it the MagSafe Audio. Apple could include a new MagSafe headphone / earbud with every new iPod, iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad, as well as sell small, inexpensive MagSafe Audio adapter for use with third party headphones.
We all know that Steve Jobs hates buttons and holes, and this would take another one away.
The MagSafe Audio, a technology to save the life of an iPhone. And, possibly, prevent my sore ears more abuse.
If it’s illegal, I am not aware of it. At least here in Michigan.
Personally I’ve always thought that MagSafe earbuds were more of a necessity than a MagSafe laptop AC adapter. Obviously a computer is more expensive than a phone or iPod, but I’ve destroyed way more pairs of earbuds by getting caught up in them somehow and yanking them than I’ve ever had close calls with any laptop.
I did have one great incident at work once where a coworker dramatically tripped over my MagSafe cable. The look on his face clearly showed he was a PC user, cause he freaked out like he had just destroyed a priceless vase. He was apologizing profusely, cause everybody knows my MBP is my life, and I was like, “It’s ok. It did what it’s supposed to do.” Which, incidentally, is not true of the new style of MagSafe adapters, which don’t always disconnect depending on what side the pull is coming from.
There’s already a third party solution for that: http://www.replug.com/home.php
The MagSafe bit is a great idea.
Wait… Were you using the earbuds while driving? I think that’s illegal in most states, isn’t it? At the very least, it’s probably not the safest thing one could be doing… O_O