How about BT + iPod ?? Simple, a little BT transmitter is plugged into the top of the iPod and the BT earphones/headset gets the signal.

I'm quite sure this is possible, but dunno if we will ever see it!

Come on Griffin vs. Belkin, lets see who has the brains!!

Mike

i think sound quality and power would become big issues with this. i have seen headsets for cell phones, but the quality is pretty poor.

Bluetooth chipsets drain alot more power than a comparable infrared or RF (radio frequency) device.
I have a bluetooth mobile headset and the sounds is fairly average. However, they are now using DSP technolgy and this is supposed to improve the clarity.

Once you make something wireless, it's not just the transmit/receive bits that need the battery. The thing that makes the noises also needs power...

The only way you're going to get acceptable sound from a BT earphone in real life is to transmit compressed audio, i.e. the MP3 file itself. That means the phones must decode the MP3 file, amp the earphone part and power the BT chipset too. If you're going to do that for say as long as the iPod's endurance (8 hours), that's not going to be a miniscule battery. The BT chipset will be the least of the power drain.

So we are talking about BIG battery for the ear phones eh? ouch!

Quote: Originally posted by bsodmike
So we are talking about BIG battery for the ear phones eh? ouch!

Fairly big. Not necessarly that heavy but you aren't going to end up with earphones. More like enlarged Street Styles. Transmitting MP3 files directly could be a problem due to differing bitrates, and the fact that 256K MP3 or more will cause a problem... What you may need to do for reliable operation is to have the "base station" which plugs into the iPod take the analog signal from the line-out and re-encode it as an AAC file maybe at relatively low bitrates which can be transmitted reliably over BT. That'll introduce more degredation (on-the-fly lossy encoding of an analog signal that was itself reproduced from a lossy audio format isn't looking too good a concept).

And however you look at it, it's gonna be expensive. How expensive? Like almost as much as a base iPod expensive. You've got most people here thinking the Sony EX earphones are hi-fi How many will drop $300 on a very short range wireless phone which sounds nowhere near as good as an Ety or even the relatively crap MDR-7506?

Why dont you get a iTrip, then get one of those old headphones with built in fm tuner.

so what you're all saying is that there is no viable way to do this? I like the itrip idea. But how big are the phones. Aren't those the big ones that ciompletely cover your ears and wrap around your head 5 times?

Good idea , i doubt it would work though.

There is a company who are making earpieces for hearing aids that work via bluetooth.. They were small and light and powered.. i can't remember where i saw the article.. i think it was wired or gizmodo.. I think they said they were about $5000 though

There is a way to do it. But there are just some issues that need to be worked out first. I would personally like to see BT built in, but apple is already having enough battery troubles let alone adding something more draining to the list. This would also be nice for simply synchronizing contacts and calendar items without a wire.

It is a good idea, just needs some time for development.

i would pay an enormous amount of money for wireless ear buds or even headphones.

I'd rather have a cord and high sound quality than no cord and low sound quality.

Making headphones more convienient isn't worth sacrificing sound quality.

how about blue tooth earphones/earbuds and a remote that would be too kool!!!

When I think about it, I think it is a bad idea. Think about how easy it would be to lose a pair of wireless earbuds