Microsoft Is Jumping Onto the Wireless Earbud Bandwagon, Says Report (arstechnica.com)

According to a report by Brad Sams at Thurrott, Microsoft is going to expand its range of audio hardware with the introduction of a set of wireless earbuds. They will accompany the Surface Headphones, a premium-priced pair of wireless headphones that Microsoft released last year. Ars Technica reports: Microsoft has shipped earbuds before: the Zune media player came with earbuds with a feature that sounds simple but is actually ingenious: the earbuds were magnetic and would stick together back to back. The result? Much less cable tangling when you put them in your pocket or bag. Surface Headphones seem to be competitive with other noise-cancelling over-the-ear headphones: their wireless range is great, the noise cancelling is solid, and their volume and noise-cancelling dials are a joy to use, but their battery life and Bluetooth audio standard support are both weak. As such, Microsoft is not totally without experience in this area and has shown that it can engineer thoughtful, compelling designs. How the putative earbuds will stand out from the crowd remains to be seen, of course.

The existing Surface Headphones were codenamed Joplin, raising the question: Janis or Scott? The earbuds make the answer to that question clear; they're apparently codenamed Morrison, as in Jim, meaning that the over-the-ear headphones are clearly named for Janis. Sams says that "Surface Buds" has been mooted as their retail name, with a possible launch in 2019.

Comments

it is easy to stand out

[RhettLivingston]

Just provide a convenient and cost-effective means of replacing the battery when it fails. The current suite of ridiculously priced wireless earbuds are all drastically limited in lifetime by how many recharges the batteries can take before they don't even last the evening.

Re:it is easy to stand out

[msauve]

Koss KSC-35, FTW! Great sound, no batteries. Just need an ubiquitous headphone jack (oh, wait, never mind).

Re:it is easy to stand out

[thegarbz]

Just provide a convenient and cost-effective means of replacing the battery when it fails.

Look.We all want ponies and unicorns. And we may get them through careful genetic engineering and cloning. However a device that last (insert number that will never be enough for some people) hours, is completely wireless and fits inside your ear, while at the same time being the bestest quality ever is just the stuff of fantasy.

You want repairability? Go Samsung. Their earbuds use an off the shelf battery with a clip together design, and yet it still only gets a 6/10 from iFixIt due to the fact that you're dealing with tiny electronics, not bloody amplifier tubes which you can wreef out with your hamfists and drag down to the drugstore to get tested.

At some point you will need to face reality that easily replaceable battery is at engineering odds with other things that people actually desire.

And I agree with you which is why I don't own these damn things and continue to use headphones with a cable regardless how non-hip I look while I'm jogging.

Re:it is easy to stand out

[Dixie_Flatline]

Why is it so hard to understand that some of us *loathe* wires? One of the best things that's ever happened to me is wireless headphones, though I'm still plagued with a cable for my headphones at my desk. I catch wires on things as I walk around, routing the cable while I work out was always a pain, all of my headphone failures had to do with either the cable housing cracking from normal use, or the jack itself going on the fritz. My wired headphones haven't lasted any longer than my wireless ones—about 2 years.

I buy cheap wireless ones off of Amazon, so I'm still saddled with a wire that goes between the two sides, but I'm really looking forward to the price of truly wireless headphones coming down.

Yes, many wired headphones sound quite good, but I don't care. My headphones are for convenience while I'm being active; I'm rarely in a position to really sit and enjoy music without doing something else at the same time, where sound quality would actually matter. It's fine that it matters to you, it's just irrelevant to all of us that are buying wireless headphones.

Easy way to stand down

[SuperKendall]

Just provide a convenient and cost-effective means of replacing the battery when it fails.

Except your concern is not even a thing for most people, so how would it stand out?

An AirPods user can just have Apple replace batteries when needed a few years down the road. Why make a product suck (which it would using any kind of common battery) for something you may need to do once every few years?

Or maybe they make some kind of super custom Microsoft battery. Honestly how is a user having to change out tiny super-expensive micro batteries "better" by any metric?

Re:Easy way to stand down

[viperidaenz]

They could standardise on an 18650 cell!

That would be perfect to hang from each ear...

Re:Easy way to stand down

[Ichijo]

Except your concern is not even a thing for most people

Please share a link to the survey that you are referring to.

Re:Easy way to stand down

[RhettLivingston]

It isn't "a thing" with generic $30 bluetooth earphones with a wire between them and a control / battery hanging from the wire. They only have 8 hours of listening time, so I just use two sets and swap when the battery is dead. They usually live about a year before the batteries are annoyingly short-lived, and I don't feel terrible about throwing a $30 set of earphones away. That's the cost of cutting the cord.

But, it is a thing when the price is over $100 and they only have 5 hours of listening time when brand new. They are pushing very tiny batteries too far to get even 5 hours and have not been showing the same battery lifetimes as standard bluetooth earphones.

At that point, the more than tripled cost per year is simply too high for most consumers and is "a thing". That cost could be greatly improved if they came up with a way to easily replace the fried batteries - perhaps the battery could just be a screw in plug... unscrew the old one and screw in the new one.

About time!

[WillAffleckUW]

My Zune could use one.

Re:About time!

[sound vision]

If these buds aren't packing at least 12% THC, I don't want them.

Re: Copy

[DontBeAMoran]

"Plays for sure"
"For a limited time only"

Re:Jim? JIM??!? What about his dad, the admiral?

[DontBeAMoran]

He can even make amazing tunes.

Re:Sorry

[Cmdln Daco]

I own two really nice Microsoft Bluetooth mice.

Now that's a good practical use for Bluetooth.

hurray

[slashmydots]

You know what, instead of worry about 3 batteries (left, right, phone) I bet they could get it up to 5 if they really tried. And make sure they die after 2 years and are proprietary and direct soldered. THAT is what intelligent buyers really want.

Re:Copy

[thegarbz]

To be fair it's not as much copying as much as it is a bloody obvious idea. I mean what a gigantic leap of the imagination to go from bluetooth headsets to bluetooth other device that plays music in your ear. /s

You can hardly criticise companies for waiting for someone else to do market research for you. If Apple actually knew what the word meant they would call it courage. Others just call it common sense business since headphones are not devices that generally benefit from first mover advantages.

Of course

[OneHundredAndTen]

As usual, several years late. Without a monopoly to leverage, chances are this will fizzle - par for the course for MS.

Cool

[tsa]

I’d like the brown ones, please.

Earbuds?

[RespekMyAthorati]

The things shown on the web page are earphones not earbuds.