Headphones.

So in the past week or so, i have realized something that has been going on in my life for a long, long time that is really annoying. It is really hard to get a good pair of headphones.

Honestly... think about it. Almost every pair that i have had in the past, present (and hopefully not future) have taken some "getting used to." Which means that your ears hurt like a bitch for the first 100 hours of wearing them... at least. Until your ears just lose all feeling in them at the contact points cause you've worn them so long. Even those old headphones that look like an upside-down U used to hurt your ears. Why is it so hard to make headphones that don't hurt? Seems like they should've had enough time to get it right by now.

I bring this up because recently i killed my ipod headphones by being rough on them (read: having them ripped outta my ears numerous times at work). So i asked Father if he had a set i could use temporarily until i got unlazy and got a replacement for the ones i broke. So he gave me a set of GPX's (it's an electronics company apparently)... anyways, i took them to work and tried them on... no less than 10 minutes later were my ears hurting because of them. These headphones sorta clip onto your ears with a hard plastic curved thingy that is spring-loaded. They are not tethered together with a headband around the top like they probably should be because they are heavy on my ears, but only with a chord that carries the signal from one to the other... in other words, your ears are the only thing holding them up. So i spent that whole night just listening to my music one ear at a time while the other was resting. That was fun. Now add all of this up and THEN try to imagine that they feel like they are about to fall off your ear. Did i mention that they sound terrible too? I doubt anyone at GPX even tried these things on before they sold them. They are that bad.

After the second night of using these headphones, i decided that enough is enough... so i figured that ANYTHING would be better than these pieces of crap. So i looked at what Wegmans had in the way of headphones... Sure enough they had some cheap headphones for sale. So i spent $5 on a set of headphones.

These newer headphones are sorta like earbuds, but to keep them on, they have a rubbery hook that hangs over your ear, and the buds kinda fall into your ears. Needless to say, they are better than the GPX's... that's for sure. But tonight was filled with "is my left earbud falling out?" Which is a problem i've had with other earbuds in the past, so i try to avoid them when possible.

The headphones that come with the Ipod though, are pretty good for being so simple. They sound decent, and don't hurt your ears. They also are really good at letting in outside sound so i can still talk to people. They were ideal for work. But i have had problems of them feeling like they're going to fall out.

I do have a couple sets of amazing headphones though...

-My inner ear monitors. These things are amazing. The sound quality is amazing, and they block out all other noise, so it's just music. Nothing else. And they are form fitted to my ears, so they are comfortable. They also cost about $600 so i can't really use them unless i'm playing drums, or sitting still listening to my ipod/computer.

-My ear-covering headphones. Also great sound quality... but i look like a doofus in them. Really. Thanks Tom, but they look funny on me. and you. and everyone. I made the mistake of wearing them around campus at Tech one day.... and i could SEE people snickering to their friends. So that was the last time i have worn those in public. And for your viewing pleasure, i have added a photo of me wearing said headphones... so enjoy. (sorry about the crappy quality, but i just came up with this concept... leave me alone.)

So electronics companies... what i want from you is a good quality, comfortable, reasonably priced set of headphones that i can wear to work and not worry that i need to take 7 advil to offset the pain that comes from wearing them. thanks.