Now here's one occasion where $69 sounds justified.
Unlike most of the other Schiller pricing decisions these days. I'm reminded one time of a friend from years ago who was learning his trade and a woman in a wealthy neighbourhood ask his boss to quote her a price for a new roof on her house and he said he'd go out to the van and make some calculations (after he looked at her house). So my friend was present in the van and he said the guy thought what this job should cost (a fair price) and when he got that figure he doubled it and then added on a bit. Full sure she might say no, she said, "good, when can you start". Sometimes when I see the price of things coming out of Cupertino these days I imagine Schiller doing the same: fair price, now let's double it and add on a bit: €114 to cover the front and back of an iPad mini 4 in silicone. They should offer a leather Apple Smart Case for this product and it should be €49 (max €59). They don't offer such an option purely out of greed. Same with their phones, the flagship models keep creeping up every year over here and while vat has increased by 2% here the $ is far more valuable toward the euro than it was a few years back. My sister asked me if I was getting an iPhone 7 (did you see the new iPhone? Are you getting one?) and I laughed out loud. Starts at €779—almost an €800 starting price here. /rant
Either buy one or don't, it's not a crazy law that you have to buy any hardware from anyone, so price is actually irrelevant.
I have a feeling I am missing something basic here: how does this prevent someone from abusing the system, i.e., claiming their AirPods + Charger have been lost, then asking for a new one of both which costs less than $159 (the replacement cost for both together is $69×2 = $138).
Yes, you are missing something basic Anan. Apple is wise enough to anticipate the scammers. Without the charging case, the airpods would be useless. You would be worse off to try and scam your way because you still need to buy the case, so it would be much cheaper to buy the Airpods for $159 as a set instead of $69 for each of the three pieces separately= $207
I wonder if a scammer could even get replacement parts without proving they owned the AirPods. Wouldn't they have to provide the serial number at a minimum?
When the AirPods are paired with multiple devices simultaneously, how do they decide which device takes priority?
It's not automatic. They are all paired, but you need to switch manually—which I feel makes most sense probably.
Thanks, but I'm still confused. My current Bluetooth earbuds (Jaybird) are paired with my iPhone and my MacBook, and I use Settings on each device to manually set which device controls the earbuds at any given time.
How are the AirPods different?
I'm sure there's an answer, but I don't understand it (yet). Thanks.
If Apple tried to charge much more than $69 per piece, it would face competition from customers who purchase AirPods for $159 and sell the pieces individually.
I hope you can buy the charging case separately. I'd like to have a second
3rd party charging case? I hope so.
Keep hoping, but don't hold your breath. Remember, it's not *just* a charging case! The case also functions as a method to pair the AirPods to your devices. If the pairing technology (AKA Apple's "special sauce") in the AirPod case is proprietary to Apple then it's unlikely any third party cases will become available due to licensing constraints.
Walking in Amsterdam I suddely thought of a drive by biker yanking EarPods out of people's ears, collecting a bunch. It will happen. Or are they password protected?
I seem to recall read somewhere once they're paired to a particular phone and by extension your Apple ID, they can't be used by someone with a different Apple ID until unpaired. I'm trying to find the source of that memory.
It seems you need to press reset button on the charging case to pair the AirPods to another phone. That may also be true for using them with a non-Apple device. So if a thief got the set from your desk, he/she could use them. But just one or both 'pods, no.
While I don't think ride-by grabs of AirPods will be a Thing, no doubt that somebody somewhere will pluck one out of an unsuspecting person's ears, even if it's just a 'proof of concept' to their buddy's.
Not too long ago, a friend's iPhone was stolen out of her hand while she was leaving a public conveyance. It still happens.
I'm still confused. My current Bluetooth earbuds (Jaybird) are paired with my iPhone and my MacBook, and I use Settings on each device to manually set which device controls the earbuds at any given time.
How are the AirPods different?
I'm sure there's an answer, but I don't understand it (yet). Thanks.
Not all but most BT earbuds have at least two BT profiles: one that allows them to connect as a headset for use with a phone, and one the allows connection as earphones (no microphone functionality) for use with a music player. So this allows pairing to two devices where some cheaper units can only pair with one device at a time. Pairing with a different device unpairs the previous device. And pairing methodology isn't standard and is not always intuitive.
The AirPods 1) allow you to connect to many BT capable devices, not just one or two and 2) every device you have signed into iCloud is now paired to your AirPods. Pair once, listen many. Get a new Mac or phone, sign into iCloud and it will use your AirPods, no additional pairing and 3) no need to drill down in Settings to switch sources.
I thought the early plan was having the AirPods automatically switch to whatever device was playing. Listen to your phone during the evening, use your iPad the next day, and they switch. But manual selection via the popup is ok by me.
A lot of people will be happy with what they've got now, no need to consider AirPods, except maybe to bad mouth them out of hand.
I won't be waiting in line, but at some point I'll try a pair. All the functionality makes them worthwhile to me as long as they sound even a little better to me. That said, I am a glass half-full kind of guy. These could work very well for me.
Apple will take them back no questions asked within 14 days, so I've got nothing to lose but a little time doing the A/B Shuffle.
I'm still confused. My current Bluetooth earbuds (Jaybird) are paired with my iPhone and my MacBook, and I use Settings on each device to manually set which device controls the earbuds at any given time.
How are the AirPods different?
I'm sure there's an answer, but I don't understand it (yet). Thanks.
Not all but most BT earbuds have at least two BT profiles: one that allows them to connect as a headset for use with a phone, and one the allows connection as earphones (no microphone functionality) for use with a music player. So this allows pairing to two devices where some cheaper units can only pair with one device at a time. Pairing with a different device unpairs the previous device. And pairing methodology isn't standard and is not always intuitive.
The AirPods 1) allow you to connect to many BT capable devices, not just one or two and 2) every device you have signed into iCloud is now paired to your AirPods. Pair once, listen many. Get a new Mac or phone, sign into iCloud and it will use your AirPods, no additional pairing and 3) no need to drill down in Settings to switch sources.
I thought the early plan was having the AirPods automatically switch to whatever device was playing. Listen to your phone during the evening, use your iPad the next day, and they switch. But manual selection via the popup is ok by me.
A lot of people will be happy with what they've got now, no need to consider AirPods, except maybe to bad mouth them out of hand.
I won't be waiting in line, but at some point I'll try a pair. All the functionality makes them worthwhile to me as long as they sound even a little better to me. That said, I am a glass half-full kind of guy. These could work very well for me.
Apple will take them back no questions asked within 14 days, so I've got nothing to lose but a little time doing the A/B Shuffle.
Here's a question ... is there ever any scenario in which Apple opens iCloud to Windows PCs such that the same BT profiles allow W1 chipped devices to pair? How about Android? If so that's a major expansion of that technology, assuming it's not coming as part of BT 5.x or 6 in a year or two. For now Apple is definitely going to keep it for themselves.
When the AirPods are paired with multiple devices simultaneously, how do they decide which device takes priority? Can the user override the default prioritization? How?
I assume only one device at a time can stream content to the AirPods.
I have mine paired with my Mac Pro and my iPhone. Both on my desk at the same time. They default to whatever was sending music to them last, in my case - my Mac Pro. So if I just hit play on my keyboard, they play music. But if I hit play on my iPhone, and select air pods from the available devices, it just switches over automatically, even if the Mac Pro is sending audio to the AirPods at the time.
Comments
How are the AirPods different?
I'm sure there's an answer, but I don't understand it (yet). Thanks.
It seems you need to press reset button on the charging case to pair the AirPods to another phone. That may also be true for using them with a non-Apple device. So if a thief got the set from your desk, he/she could use them. But just one or both 'pods, no.
While I don't think ride-by grabs of AirPods will be a Thing, no doubt that somebody somewhere will pluck one out of an unsuspecting person's ears, even if it's just a 'proof of concept' to their buddy's.
Not too long ago, a friend's iPhone was stolen out of her hand while she was leaving a public conveyance. It still happens.
The AirPods 1) allow you to connect to many BT capable devices, not just one or two and 2) every device you have signed into iCloud is now paired to your AirPods. Pair once, listen many. Get a new Mac or phone, sign into iCloud and it will use your AirPods, no additional pairing and 3) no need to drill down in Settings to switch sources.
I thought the early plan was having the AirPods automatically switch to whatever device was playing. Listen to your phone during the evening, use your iPad the next day, and they switch. But manual selection via the popup is ok by me.
A lot of people will be happy with what they've got now, no need to consider AirPods, except maybe to bad mouth them out of hand.
I won't be waiting in line, but at some point I'll try a pair. All the functionality makes them worthwhile to me as long as they sound even a little better to me. That said, I am a glass half-full kind of guy. These could work very well for me.
Apple will take them back no questions asked within 14 days, so I've got nothing to lose but a little time doing the A/B Shuffle.