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Koss in-ear headphones are the most PoS consumer product I've had the misfortune to encounter in recent memory. What makes them so wonderfully awful is the "mute" hardware button installed halfway up the cord. It is the very definition of a misfeature.
Pressing the button kills the signal from your iPod for the duration of pressure, without actually pausing the iPod itself, resulting in you missing whatever information came up the wire in the interim. I guess if you're listening to a familiar song that you don't really care about that's OK, but otherwise, not so much.
Sadly, the button does not let you ignore it. First of all, it's huge and sensitive, so if you stuff your iPod in your pocket like I do, you end up pressing the button by accident all the time as you move around. Far worse, after about a month of use, the button decided that I didn't need to hear the left channel any more. I could still hear it if I held the button halfway down, so as far as I can tell it is indeed the button's fault.
On a tip from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
xartofnothingx I just picked up a pair of Sony clip-overs. They are perfectly comfy and, 10 minutes in, they pass the "how does Ladytron's Witching Hour sound on these" test admirably. Of course I mainly use my iPod for NPR podcasts, so now I can once more hear Jack Beatty sputter indignantly in both ears instead of just my right one. This is my third set of headphone for this five-month-old iPod. I hope they last a little longer this time.
Pressing the button kills the signal from your iPod for the duration of pressure, without actually pausing the iPod itself, resulting in you missing whatever information came up the wire in the interim. I guess if you're listening to a familiar song that you don't really care about that's OK, but otherwise, not so much.
Sadly, the button does not let you ignore it. First of all, it's huge and sensitive, so if you stuff your iPod in your pocket like I do, you end up pressing the button by accident all the time as you move around. Far worse, after about a month of use, the button decided that I didn't need to hear the left channel any more. I could still hear it if I held the button halfway down, so as far as I can tell it is indeed the button's fault.
On a tip from
xartofnothingx I just picked up a pair of Sony clip-overs. They are perfectly comfy and, 10 minutes in, they pass the "how does Ladytron's Witching Hour sound on these" test admirably. Of course I mainly use my iPod for NPR podcasts, so now I can once more hear Jack Beatty sputter indignantly in both ears instead of just my right one. This is my third set of headphone for this five-month-old iPod. I hope they last a little longer this time.
