iPod Headphones: Improved

Following my recent purchase of an iPod Shuffle (did you know they are only $50 nowadays?) I had to do something about the included headphones. Everybody knows they are practically ear magnets -- that is, they are repelled by ears. That is, they fall out. A lot. There's nothing I can do about the sound quality, but since I bought my Shuffle for use while exercising, I figured I wouldn't notice a lack of crispness about any drums or symbols while halfway up the mountain that is Tacoma.

Thus they became around-the-ear headphones. I already have a pair of these, but I'm too much of a stickler for sustainability to throw away a pair of perfectly good headphones, so now I have two pairs. I started by bending a short piece of mechanics' wire around my ear, and then putting headphone-size loops on the end by my eardrum. After that all I had to do was insert the headphones and wrap the contraption in electrical tape. Ta-da!

The mechanics' wire means they are a little stiffer than your typical soft-plastic wrap-arounds, and I haven't decided yet if that's a good thing or a bad thing. It definitely means they require more stress to fall out, which is nice if you are doing something with high volatility like riding a bike or going for a jog. They aren't quite as comfortable at first, but that effect goes away very quickly, and I think it's worth the sacrifice to not have to stop and lose your momentum to put them in again.