Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

mark of distinction

Walking down the street or riding the Metro, it’s hard to miss the people wearing trademark white earbuds, branding themselves as proud iPod owners. It used to be a sign of hipness — that the wearer was cool or affluent to have been one of the iPod early adopters. But now that those white earbuds are popping up seemingly everywhere, and on people far, far outside the usual Apple yuppie demographic, some folks are actually swapping the Apple earbuds for something more nondescript. (Wired: “IPod Users Go Into the Closet ” - 10/12/04)

It’s not just a matter of style, either. The white earbuds also potentially mark users as targets for iPod-seeking thieves — something that New York University has gone so far as to issue an advisory to students about. (MacNN: “NYU cautions against wearing iPod earbud headphones” - 03/03/05)

I think I switched from the white earbuds to my ordinary black earbuds shortly after I bought my iPod last year. It wasn’t so much about specific concerns about “hipness” or safety … I just didn’t like calling attention to myself while wearing them.

(Thanks to Rob for the MacNN link.)