smart ipod headphones
December 19th, 2006Headphones should know when they are in use, meaning, when they are on someones head (full headphones) or in someones ear (earbuds). I don’t know of any headphones with this ability now, but it seems like a fairly straightforward concept.
If headphones knew when they were ‘in use’… my ipod would be smart enough to stop playing when my headphones were ‘not in use’, thus not burn through my playlist while I am not listening, or burn through my pathetic 4hrs of battery life (2nd generation ipod - yikes).
There are obviously edge cases - when the ipod is hooked into a stereo, computer or other connection, but that can be dealt with.
Wouldn’t smart headphones be great? Apple could produce and package them with the ipod, others would follow.
December 22nd, 2006 at 9:46 am
The concept might seem straightforward, but I doubt the implementation is. The devil is in the details
On a somewhat related note, when my headphones get unplugged from my iPod it stops playing.
On a completely unrelated note, iPods are not designed for winter use (it even says “Designed by Apple in California” on the packaging.) The stupid touch wheel does not work with gloves on. I suppose they could use that same skin-touch sensitivity on the headphones to determine if they’re in use. So I guess not so unrelated after all.