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Sony Ericsson Develops Contact Headphones

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the sounds-like-another-point-of-failure dept.

TechnologyResource writes "Sony Ericsson has just introduced the MH907 headphones. The headphones will pause or play your music based on contact; eliminating the use of a pause or stop button. Removing one ear bud will pause the music. Removing both ear buds will stop the music. Both ear buds have to be in your ear to play the music. According to Sony Ericsson, this will allow you to 'play your music and answer phone calls just by inserting the buds into your ear or taking them out.'"

30 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. Van Gogh. . . by JSBiff · · Score: 4, Funny

    What if you're missing one ear?

    1. Re:Van Gogh. . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm sure you can stick the second ear bud somewhere else. ...perhaps in the ear of your scantily clad model?

    2. Re:Van Gogh. . . by Ambvai · · Score: 3, Funny

      Simple: Insert one into a similarly sized cavity within reach of the cord. I recommend a nostril.

    3. Re:Van Gogh. . . by fireball84513 · · Score: 2, Funny

      nonsense, ears can be grown off of skinless rats now remember? and if you cant afford the procedure, you probably shouldn't be forking out cash for expensive earphones that make life slightly more convenient

      --
      "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
    4. Re:Van Gogh. . . by Jurily · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is a better question than the mods seem to appreciate. They deny you the ability to listen with only one ear, while keeping in touch with the outside world with the other.

    5. Re:Van Gogh. . . by dbet · · Score: 5, Funny

      I tried your suggestion, but the rat kept running away, pausing the music.

    6. Re:Van Gogh. . . by DigitalPasture · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If that's the case then these probably aren't the headphones for you.

    7. Re:Van Gogh. . . by SoupGuru · · Score: 3, Informative

      I thought we were discussing how you should not buy these if they don't meet all your needs...

      --
      What doesn't kill you only delays the inevitable
  2. What if...? by mackil · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Great idea, but what if you listen to music with only one ear? I work in an office environment where people regularly interrupt my coding work. As a result, I have taken the habit of listening to my music with only one ear bud. That way I can hear whenever someone is trying to get my attention, but can still listen to my alternative rock to my heart's content.

    1. Re:What if...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How about you and Van Gogh buy some other earphones? Or do they have to get your personal approval on this one?

    2. Re:What if...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I realize this is a tough one to figure out, but the solution is to not buy these headphones.

    3. Re:What if...? by blakelarson · · Score: 2, Funny

      Easy -- just put both ear buds in one ear!

    4. Re:What if...? by Estragib · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You'd be right it the first sentence of TFA didn't read, "Sony Ericsson may soon make the play button a thing of the past with its new motion-controlled earbuds." With a claim like that, this kind of critical response to the arcticle is to be expected and justified.

    5. Re:What if...? by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Ideally there would be a setting in software.

    6. Re:What if...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Why stop the music? I'm perfectly capable of listening to music in one ear, and pretending I'm listening to Mary with the other.

    7. Re:What if...? by Jurily · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This makes this frequent gesture better by pausing the music for you.

      I believe the correct solution is to allow a one-ear mode, and to retain the functionality of the pause/play button at all times. Insert two, remove one: playback stops. Insert only one: playback starts.

      Nobody gets to tell me how many ears to use for listening to music, tyvm.

    8. Re:What if...? by MBGMorden · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That's great, but that doesn't mean that these aren't useful. 10% of the population is left handed. Some devices are built specifically for right handed people. The solution for them isn't to complain that such devices exist, but rather to buy ambidextrous or left-hand specific items. Anyone who thinks that an item is poorly designed simply because it doesn't meet their specific criteria is just being naive.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
  3. A lot of technology for a simple thing? by hattig · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "this will allow you to 'play your music and answer phone calls just by inserting the buds into your ear or taking them out"

    Sounds more awkward than pressing a button on the phone in my opinion, but if you're driving or you can't otherwise get at the device it could be useful. Or if you have ears that aren't just right for in-ear 'phones, which keep falling out as a result.

    However what's wrong with a clicker on the cable?

    1. Re:A lot of technology for a simple thing? by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ...but if you're driving...

      You shouldn't have plugs in both ears. Illegal in most places. Dangerous in all places.

      Oh, and put the phone down. You're driving.

    2. Re:A lot of technology for a simple thing? by defaria · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Quite frankly BULLSHIT! Having music playing in your earbuds is no more or less distracting than playing the radio loudly. In both cases you can hear the music very well and other things not so well. If you are gonna outlaw earbuds then you must outlaw stereos.

    3. Re:A lot of technology for a simple thing? by adolf · · Score: 2

      That law has never made sense to me. You are allowed to drive with loud music and the windows up, but not headphones? It's pretty much the same thing.

      Also, Deaf people can drive.

      That deaf people can drive does not mean that drivers should deafen themselves while driving.

      --
      Kid-proof tablet..
  4. Good Idea... by PrimaryConsult · · Score: 2, Interesting
    so long as it works properly. Many times I take my headphones off to order food, talk to a bank teller, etc and then three hours later, I find it has been playing the entire time. This will do wonders for battery life...

    But what is more likely to happen is the contact mechanism will wear out in six months and it will be difficult to get them to play at all...

    1. Re:Good Idea... by fulldecent · · Score: 5, Funny

      but considering this is Sony, it is very likely that the headphones will overheat and explode in your ear, cause a commotion at a UN meeting, install a rootkit on anything you insert it in, and lose a format war with something else on the market.

      --

      -- I was raised on the command line, bitch

  5. weak sauce. by superdana · · Score: 5, Informative

    The MH907 is only compatible with Sony Ericsson's own Fast Port-equipped phones -- Fast Port is SE's proprietary connector on the bottom of its phones.

    Fail.

    1. Re:weak sauce. by dyingtolive · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Makes sense. How else would you notify the device playing music that you wish for the music to stop?

      As an aside, I'm not sure about iPods, but the Zune will automatically pause music if the headphones have been removed. You could make an analogue to this technology by implementing something similar to that in an ordinary mp3/cd player and having a cutoff switch for the circuit in the ear piece (or on the cord, or wherever), and just trip it when appropriate. Resuming play automatically would be a trick, but then again, honestly how lazy are we?

      --
      Support the EFF and Creative Commons. The war is coming, and they're supporting you...
    2. Re:weak sauce. by fulldecent · · Score: 4, Interesting

      with a 4-port 1/4" jack... like the ipod

      --

      -- I was raised on the command line, bitch

  6. Useless by cl0s · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ehh... When my phone rings, the music just pauses itself. But then again my phone is also my MP3 player. Useless... to me at least.

  7. iPod elimated the difference between pause/stop by sandymac · · Score: 4, Insightful

    My first iPod showed me that there is no reason to distinguish between the concept of pause or the concept of stop. For some type of media devices it makes sense to have an off button but for many devices even that can be combined in with the pause button.

    1. Re:iPod elimated the difference between pause/stop by Idiomatick · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Stop has always just meant pause or at most pause and go back. I think the last time I was something different than that would be.... VHS? Pause resulted in ugly lines. So ... unless iPod was released in the early 90s I really think you are giving credit for no reason.

  8. You can't 'buy' them anyway... by Joce640k · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They only work with special SONY-only proprietary connectors and mp3 players. I'm sure this will trigger a sea change of people dumping their iPods and iPhones and switching to SONY.

    Or maybe not.

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