yes, but the majority weren’t doing that.
Even iTunes by default used to down sample CD imports to AAC, that’s what people were using.
Not to mention file sharing websites, you certainly weren’t getting frequent fully lossless tracks from there
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AirPods Were Released Six Years Ago Today With 'Revolutionary' User Experience
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Even iTunes by default used to down sample CD imports to AAC, that’s what people were using.
Not to mention file sharing websites, you certainly weren’t getting frequent fully lossless tracks from there
So, they were just swapped out under warranty then...
Sometimes in a Million units you will get a dud.
Mine have lasted 6 years since day 1. And now they are used my by kid non stop. my AirPods pros are the same.
To be fair, CDs didn’t surpass the sales of vinyl records until 1988, and didn’t surpass cassette tapes until 1989.Definitely a psyOp! ;-)
It'll never cease to amaze me just how connected to information we are today and yet how stunningly lazy folks can be to take the 4 seconds it requires to fact-check the simplest things.
Compact Disc Digital Audio - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
And CD sales were surpassed by digital downloads in 2011.
And 90s and 2000s CDs we’re absolutely not known for their brilliant sound quality, just look up the Loudness War.
So while it’s true for those 22 years The most popular form of music was technically lossless, in reality that means very little.
And again, once we get to people importing their CDs into their iTunes library’s (usually lossy AAC), file sharing websites which were huge in the late 90s and the 2000s (lossy mp3), and all other popular ways of listening to music from that era, saying that the quality has gone downhill is very much a stretch.
I can tell you right now, streaming Apple Music to my AirPods, I’m getting way higher quality audio than I was getting from the 64-128kbps mp3 files that littered my old iPod that sounded like fifth generation cassette rips of vinyl rips of music.
Correct, and adding to this, even if people were listening to records back in the ‘80’s, for the vast majority of people doing so, it would have been on decidedly low-fi equipment. And don’t get me started on cassette tapes. Sure, they were super convenient and portable, but there was never any guarantee that the sound you’d get out of them would have clean highs, or deep lows - though you were generally assured that there would be vast amounts of hiss. I remember messing around with the tracking on several cassette decks just to extract the best sound - per tape. I jumped to CD’s as soon as Sony released their portable CD Walkman, just to get away from the sub-par sound quality of tapes.
I have FLAC rips that predate me even owning an iPod in 2006
regardless, my comments were about the earbuds, and they remain true.
To be fair my response was to the claim "Consumers weren't listening to digital audio in 1982." which wasn't in the post I quoted but in the one he quoted lol. Objectively this claim is false and this was my only intended feedback on this particular sub-topic of this thread. ;-)
Go for the AirPods Pro's ... just as immersive, light weight and not too expensive. Maybe somebody will get you a gift.
I've tried all the B&O ... they don't sound better.
The Sony WF-1000XM3's tried twice alternating between the AirPods Pro's (1) for 3wks as primary for each ... bass and mids initially sounded better until the a few FW Updates.
Anker I'd doubt but possible, and Sennheiser indeed sound better. Yet its also about comfort using the earphones over an hour of use, weight, fit in the hear as well all come before best in class sound quality - cause after an hour of use if its too uncomfortable what's the point in having longer battery life yeh?
Apple has also dabbled in wearables with the iPod shuffles but especially with the 6th gen iPod nano, going as far as including watch faces for people who were wearing them on their wrists.
Sony did beat Apple to the smartwatch game. Apple seeded the basic design idea/premise.
FYI you've pictured the Apple iPod Nano (not the shuffle).
Sony SmartWatch 2 SW2 - Full phone specifications
Sure the iPod Nano 6th Gen did release on October 2010 - but its just an iPod not a smartwatch.
Sony SmartWatch 2 ... see the design resemblance that Apple's iPod Nano looked like?
Many of the features we enjoy in smart watches today have started on this bad-boy originally:
Apps, leather and metal bands, bluetooth connetivity for SMS/calls/and camera control/connectivity, various watch bands, all started here.
Makes you wonder since Jobs announced the TiBook, having the sex appeal that Sony had but the power of the G4, has Sony and Apple had an unspoken teasing partnership of sorts? hmm.
I don’t mind other colors but Apple always had earphones in white what was (if I remember correctly) Steve Jobs choice. If you want colors you can always look for Beats. White is iconic
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LOL ... that's a VERY big gamble for profit by Apple whom only has under 25% of the the computer market, under 60% of the global phone market, and with under 2% (at launch of AirPods) of the accessories and in particular headphone market. That is if you do NOT count Beats headphone sales/market.
Again a VERY big gamble which could've failed badly for 'profit'. I'd say all other Android phone manufacturers removed headphone jacks for profit following Apple: Samsung, Oppo, etc.
In my comment I talked about both the iPod shuffle and 6th gen Nano as examples of early Apple wearables. The Shuffles had lanyards/clips etc in various versions and Apple added watch features for the Nano after many people started wearing them in third party wrist bands.Sony did beat Apple to the smartwatch game. Apple seeded the basic design idea/premise.
FYI you've pictured the Apple iPod Nano (not the shuffle).
Announced 2013, June. Released 2013, October.Sony SmartWatch 2 SW2 - Full phone specifications
www.gsmarena.com
Sure the iPod Nano 6th Gen did release on October 2010 - but its just an iPod not a smartwatch.
Sony SmartWatch 2 ... see the design resemblance that Apple's iPod Nano looked like?
Many of the features we enjoy in smart watches today have started on this bad-boy originally:
Apps, leather and metal bands, bluetooth connetivity for SMS/calls/and camera control/connectivity, various watch bands, all started here.
Makes you wonder since Jobs announced the TiBook, having the sex appeal that Sony had but the power of the G4, has Sony and Apple had an unspoken teasing partnership of sorts? hmm.
I remember a number of companies were trying their hand at smart watches at the time like the Gear watch (also 2013) and Pebble (2012) in addition to Sony, so I wouldn’t call them the originator of many of these features even if they were some of the first to have them in a modern smart watch. If we go further back, there are even earlier examples like the Microsoft SPOT watch.
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Yeah the others followed because they saw the profits Apple was making from first party earbuds.
Galaxy Buds? Pixel Buds?
Luckily that, for most users, convenience and user experience is the most important thing.
Also, what consumer grade digital audio from 40 years ago?
It is possible for airpods to go south in a short period of time. Using them through many charging cycles or above "average" usage, leaving them in a hot car on a dashboard, etc. Don't know how people use them or treat them.
Yeah so you’re proving my point?
Again Apple had no direct market with their own brand so why take a big gamble alienating their users huh?!
To this day, the only revolutionary earphones I've ever had were the Bragi DASH earphones. I had them before the AirPods came out. Bragi had features 6 years ago that to this day apple still does not have: Workout tracking, the ability to play music while swimming, completely waterproof, the ability to save music directly to the earphone (which allowed playback while swimming), the ability to control headphones by taping on your face and so much more. The only problem was that the company was new, ultimately folded, and the customer service was slow. I ended up going with Airpod because they were reliable but innovative they are not. Most of the developments from Airpod were taken from the Bragi. The only innovation was the chip, which made it seamless with apple devices and great marketing.
Today marks the sixth anniversary of Apple releasing the original AirPods. The wireless headphones were first introduced alongside the iPhone 7 in September 2016, and they became available to customers on December 19, 2016 after being delayed.
While there were already some wireless headphones on the market, AirPods helped to popularize the category thanks to deep integration with Apple devices.
"AirPods are simple and magical to use, with no switches or buttons, automatically connecting to all your Apple devices simply and seamlessly, and letting you access Siri with just a double tap," touted Apple's former marketing chief Phil Schiller. "We can't wait for users to try them with iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2."
Priced at $159, the first-generation AirPods introduced many core features, including one-tap pairing with Apple devices and in-ear detection for automatic playing and pausing of music. The headphones were powered by Apple's custom W1 chip, offering improved audio quality compared to Apple's wired EarPods headphones.
"This revolutionary experience is enabled by the new ultra-low power Apple W1 chip, which enables AirPods to deliver high-quality audio and industry-leading battery life in a completely wireless design," said Apple's press release for AirPods.
Apple went on to release second-generation and third-generation AirPods in March 2019 and October 2021 respectively, with better audio quality, longer battery life, hands-free "Hey Siri" support, an optional wireless charging case, and other improvements added over those years. Apple also launched the higher-end AirPods Pro in October 2019 with active noise cancellation, followed by the over-ear AirPods Max in December 2020. The latest AirPods are the second-generation AirPods Pro, released in September.
Article Link: AirPods Were Released Six Years Ago Today With 'Revolutionary' User Experience
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Proving what point? Apple knows its userbase will take it up the arse and like whatever they make/change.
They removed the headphone jack not for water resistance or other excuse. It was purely for future profit potential in selling first party AirPods & Beats with exclusive features that 3rd party bluetooth headphones cannot use.
They forced the change. Had they kept the headphone jack and kept including 3.5mm earbuds in the phone, the AirPods would not have been as successful.
Like I said I used them for work, all day every day. 3 swaps per day. After a year one of pods started losing it's charge.
My use case might of been extreme but that's batteries for you.
I love how Apple pushes the chemical / physics boundaries and invents new products. I look at staff that choose non Apple Bluetooth ear phones and they have the appearance more like a hearing aid. Apple design products with style and colours that us users appreciate. The lilac (stone purple) of my Beats Pro Fit is my favourite shade in the purple spectrum which matches my T shirts. Active noise cancellation on my generation two AirPods Pro is better than my first generation. Their event promises are true to their word resulting in even better music immersion by filtering out the noise of the world around me.
All said and done, the batteries of AirPod are irreplaceable so basically it is an expensive use and throw product.