I miss the Headphone Jack
I’ll let you in on a secret. In my teenage years I nigh-exclusively went to sleep listening to fantasy soundtracks, imagining Tolkienesque characters chasing fame and glory by the sword night after night. It was fun, daft, and dweeby.
It was a practice I kept up into adulthood. Not so much the imagination, but I’d nod off listening to the soundtrack of fierce battles, savvy duels, and the ambience of ancient glades. Each night I’d load the playlist on my phone, then lie back with my earbuds in.
And then I got a phone without a headphone jack.
Every other media device I’ve owned has come with a headphone jack. The 3.5 mm jack has been a tried & tested standard for 70-odd years, and the fact that companies have been getting rid of it on the most popular listening device is insane. All for what, making phones thinner? Because Apple did it first?1
Okay, there are still ways to listen to music but nothing beats wired earphones for me.
USB-C to 3.5 adaptors exist but… They’re naff. They jut out of pockets, wobble awkwardly between your phone & earphones, and the listening experience sucks: the signal cuts out whenever a song gets quiet, and they produce a constant electrical hiss.2 Oh, and you can’t connect a charger to it while using it.
Wireless earphones are a valid option, but you’re trading in one lot of faff for another: sure you don’t have to deal with untangling wires, but with wired buds I never have to consider myself on a time limit for listening, nor do I have to recharge them. If I’m doing chores or going on a walk they’re not that bad, but if I’m out and about all day I have to consider when I want to use them.
Again, wired earphones are simple. They’ve been around for ages, are supported everywhere else, and they just work. Removing the 3.5 mm jack from phones is just arbitrary and anti-consumer.
We had a good thing going on. Then they ruined it.