Starting a new tradition here on Tech IT Easy and backdating a little. From now on, if someone smart wrote something useful and related, I’ll reblog it here. I think that comments are way undervalued still in today’s internet-society, and want to put YOU in the spotlight.

“Were my Sennheiser headphones “made to break?”” got some interest comments on it, way more than I expected, to be honest. For one, Giles Slade, author of “Made to Break” had a few words to say (added some paragraphs for easier reading):

Dear Vincent,

Thanks for remembering me and my book. I love the example that you use because headphones are one of the original consumer electronic products from the 19th century invented slightly after telephones because of the noise and confusion in telephone operation rooms. (I have some early photographs including the patent drawing from 1881 that I’d be happy to send you if you’d like to post them on your sight).

These invisible devices have been with us virtually unchanged for over a century. Cleverly after the development of disposable transistor radios in the late 50s and early 60s they (headphones, earphones, ear plugs) became disposable too. And there’s still a massive worldwide market in throwaway phones. Recently however electronics manufacturers have done what the iPod did for MP3 players and raised these disposable items to luxury item status by designing them to produce much better sound.

BUT they are still highly breakable and therefore still throwaway items as you point out. So really there is a double whammy here: the consumer is paying more for a disposable product. There was a device in the 70s called the ‘bone phone’ that transmitted musical sound to bones of the ear by vibration. It didn’t isolate the consumer inside a potentially lethal cone of silence and was a fairly cheap and durable device, but it never caught on. For now, we seem to be stuck with either circum -aural, super-aural or inter-aural headphones, all of which have the same basic internal structure and yes, the same, really cheap wires that wear down after a few weeks of use connecting and disconnecting the jack.

Well, nice to know someone remembers the book. It took me 4 years to write and it is not a conspiracy theory as much as a description of what compromises manufacturers routinely make in advanced capitalism. –

Thanks again, Vincent!

(ps I’m working on a new book about the coming age of environmental refugees under global warming).

I think it’s a very important book that he wrote, and one that, particularly in these times, both consumers and business should start paying attention to. He also sent me some pictures, like the one above. The rest can be seen over here.

A number of people, like t/, also gave me a reality-check:

actually, the wires seldom are not replaceable in such a device. proffesional models usually have micro-jack attached wires, or hidden-fixed-with-screw attached wires.
if its models restrained by price or size or consumerism, theres no jacks, but its often possible to do-it-yourself no problem.
the question usually is – are you too busy to (learn to) do it yourself and have to
a)pay someone else
b)buy new ones
otherwise you just do it.
anyway, the broken thing is a WIRE. you could not get simpler than that.

He’s right, of course.

Btw. commentators, now that you know I publish your words of wisdom, you might want to think about using better grammar.

Vincent

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