Earbuds (or good ones, anyway) work like corks for your ears: sealing in music while blocking surrounding sounds. They’re fine when you’re safe at home, but not so much outside when you need to be aware of your environment.
While you might think it’s crazy for a company to be selling one-sided headphones, there’s a compelling idea behind them: If you’re out jogging while listening to music you can always just take one of your regular earbuds out to keep an ear on your surroundings, but that only leaves you with half of a stereo mix in your other ear. So these One Good Earbuds simply mix your music down to a mono signal, letting you hear both sides of a stereo mix in one ear, and what’s going on around you in the other.
They’re available in three designs, including one with an over-the-ear support and the option for an inline remote control with a mic, topping out at just $US27. At that price we’re certainly not expecting audiophile-grade sound here, but if it means you’re not killed by that turning car you didn’t hear, it’s probably an agreeable tradeoff. [One Good Earbud via Gear Diary]
Telextial
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 9:46 AMSo they charge the same amount as a pair of earphones while cutting their costs by leaving the other half off. Not a bad business strategy.
Ash
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 9:48 AMA nothing product. Just buy any pair of earphones and take one out. If really youre not gonna get good quality audio from one sided earphones, why bother spending more money on something you effectively already have?
HunterSBonobo
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 11:37 AMMy guess is that they’re presenting the audio in mono. If you’ve ever listened to only one side of a stereo mix you’d appreciate that it can be somewhat disorientating.
MotorMouth
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 10:11 AMThis is hilarious. We are back to the good old days of the 1960s and 1970s, when a transistor radio came with an earphone so you could listen to the footy or cricket coverage without annoying others.
MrTaco
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 2:35 PMI have a set of headphones with a volume control dial on the cord, it also has a switch to flick between stereo and mono. Would’ve thought that’d be a much more sensible option here.
That said, whenever I’ve been around with earphones in (usually playing DS :P) I’ve still been able to hear my surroundings. So it still seems kind of pointless to me.
Jono
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 3:32 PMactually not too bad an idea.
Great for Cyclists