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I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

fastcompany.com

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Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#661

Post by Wowfunhappy »

Natanael_L wrote: post #446
pizza234 wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the problem, in the specific audio area, is the technology itself rather than accessibility. The Bluetooth standard is trash; no stack/device [combination] just works as it's supposed to do. If BT worked, I think accessibility would pose no problem; ultimately, the intended workflow is: 1. turn on BT on the host device (if required); 2. turn on the client device; 3. listen to music. As the BT committees and i…

NFC based pairing is already a thing, reducing your 3 steps to 1 step. It's however not supported everywhere.

It's not supported everywhere, including that one platform that kickstarted our descent into headphone-jack-less hell.

(Hint: it starts with an "i" and ends with "Phone".)

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#662

Post by tjohns »

roboyoshi wrote: post #299
m_mueller wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

maybe an industry standard that works like AirPods pairing?

Yes, but looking at Apple, Google, HTC, Samsung and recent history, I think it will come down to this: https://xkcd.com/927/ . I'm almost certain that whatever Apple developed for the Airpods will not be shared with other companies. And whatever other companies push forward as a "Standard" will not replace the Apple Solution in the near future. Even replacing apples crappy AFP Network Protocol took 13 years, until SM…

Regarding SMB... there isn't an official "standard" implementation outside of Microsoft's walls.

Apple used to use Samba, but had to drop it in MacOS 10.7 when Samba switched from GPLv2 to GPLv3. I can't really fault them for making a change based on licensing concerns.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#663

Post by JetSpiegel »

ModernMech wrote: post #536
virmundi wrote: post #528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPhone allows the ability to use old headphones if you use an adapter. So you have to remember to carry that with you. You then have to buy another adapter to charge the phone at the same time as using the headphones. Say you want to use YouTube, but not pay for Red, Unlimited, or whatever they call it now. You have to leave the screen on, which means eating the battery. Two dongles or you run the risk of running…

Can I just say how insane it is Youtube charges you for the privilege of turning off your screen? I remember the original iPad did this for free. How is this the world we made for ourselves?

Works on NewPipe...

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#664

Post by Latteland »

christopherwxyz wrote: post #495
einr wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were removed only when few people used them because there was a better alternative. Many, many people use headphones with 3,5 mm plugs and it is not at all clear that the alternative is better.

But that is exactly my point: bluetooth is a better alternative to the headphone jack. In addition, fewer people use the headphone jack than people did one year ago.

It's just silly to claim bluetooth is better than the headphone jack. There are lots of reasons people use headphone jacks less. I can't buy a phone one with one, cause I want a recent better spec phone.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#665

Post by Wowfunhappy »

mh8h wrote: post #117
finnthehuman wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I just keep mine hooked up to my wired headphones. This works great, until... You leave the pair of headphones with the dongle behind by mistake and spend the rest of the day frustrated because you have access to a perfectly good pair of headphones but no the dongle. Or you stick to one primary pair of headphones and are frequently taking the dongle on and off making it even easier to misplace or leave behind.

It's not supposed to be perfect. It's just a solution to that problem. Remember when optical drives where removed from laptops? We had to carry an external optical drive. Some times we'd forget it. It was inconvenient. But we survived.

Optical drives take up lots of space, use a lot of electricity, and have moving parts that can break easily in a portable device like a laptop. A computer like the Macbook Air would simply be impossible with an optical drive.

I'm willing to make that trade, especially given how uncommon DVD's were even by the time the MBA launched. (Although I'll note that my desktop has a BluRay drive and I wouldn't have it any other way.)

What benefit am I getting in exchange for the loss of a headphone jack? An extra couple millimeters of screen real estate?

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#666

Post by jamesrcole »

xg15 wrote: post #595
jamesrcole wrote: post #554

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1) And by doing this we create even more e-waste! You could say that about anything new. > 2) I do _not_ want wireless headphones! Good for you, no-one is forcing you to use them. All I have ever done in this comment thread is argue against the idea that removing the headphone jack has zero benefits for anyone. And yet I'm getting piled on by people basically accusing me of trying to force everyone to go wireless.…

But no-one was forcing you to use wired headsets before either. There were options for wireless available. I think the question remains whether making wired headphones harder to use had zero benefits. That's a different question than whether making wireless headphones easier to use had. You made an economic argument for the former question - but you can't make that argument and say "no one is forcing you" at the same…

I made an argument about removing the headphone jack, not about making one thing easier or another thing harder. My argument was about a consequence of removing the jack.

I know no one was being forced to use wired headphones before. That has nothing at all to do with an argument about the consequences of removing the jack.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#667

Post by Wowfunhappy »

arvinsim wrote: post #196
_vn5r wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’re constantly switching then it may be a good idea to buy another dongle.

If you have to switch between lightning and 3.5mm constantly, how in the world does buying another dongle help?

This is my biggest problem. Even across Apple's own line, you have iPhones with only lightning ports, and iPads with no lightning ports. If I use headphones across those different devices, I'll have to unplug and replug the adapter constantly. Which means that adapter is going to get lost.

This is all such an unnecessary problem.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#668

Post by jamesrcole »

camelNotation wrote: post #635
jamesrcole wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I detest wired headphones. I find they always get caught on things while I'm wearing them, and because of the neck problems I have that's a big issue for me (and as well as that, they'd always get tangled up in my bag, which was a bit of a hassle). So I'm personally glad they've removed the headphone jack, because it will help push wireless into the mass market (and bring down prices) at a faster rate tha…

Removing the headphone jack doesn't push wireless into the mass market. It was already in the mass market and it was going to be in the mass market regardless of how Apple designed their phones. If you want to use a wireless headset, you always could. Removing the headphone jack didn't give you any sort of advantages as a wireless user, it just removed an option you didn't use. And no, it's not courageous to do somet…

It has increased the speed of wireless headphones uptake.

You can call it dumb all you like, but whether something is dumb or not is completely separate from whether it is courageous or not.

I'm amazed by people hating something so much that therefore, in their minds, makes it impossible to have other qualities that might have a positive connotation.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#669

Post by tomlum »

Right now if you buy a macbook and an iPhone, you will get:

An iPhone with no headphone jack, a pair of lightning headphones, a lightning to usb charging cable

A macbook with a headphone jack and no usb ports.

Out of the box you cannot charge your phone with your laptop, or use either headphones for either. They could very well be made by separate companies. They have Zero out of the box connectivity with each other. I don't care what anyone has to say about usb-c and the future: this is a step backwards for those of us in the present.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#670

Post by goldfeld »

rocky1138 wrote: post #625
goldfeld wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, since I like to write, have more so lately, have started a newsletter before and was planning to start a similar one soon, I'll bite. Except if Poe's law comes bite me and it wasn't in earnest (checked your comment history and you don't seem to make trashy comments like me), what'd you like to read about in this style? Technology, technological change, society, languages, editors, open source? What periodicity wo…

Anything tech. Your writing style matches very well with things that are frustrating, meaning I think lighthearted rants might be hilarious to read.

Yes, my life as a programmer has been in horrible frustration with human-computer interfaces. Thanks by the way!
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