I don't get your point then? People knew about the internet in 1996! AOL had been mass-market by half a decade at that point. I don't know what you think the mid-90s were like but people were using the internet.
But what have the internet and clamshell telephones got to do with headphones?
So... again... which of my statements is inaccurate?
I wrote:
"quarter of century ago most people even if heard about the Internet they haven't had a chance to use it yet".
How does that conflict with AOL or the quoted above that at that time only 20 million, less than 10%, of Americans had access to the Internet (and access isn't the same as using it)?
Also, this is for USA. The rest of the world did not have anywhere near that much access to the Internet.
Many Americans had heard of the Internet by 1996--for example, it was on the cover of Time Magazine in 1994--but most people who were online were probably just using AOL, Compuserve, etc. and, as you say, not the Internet.
> I see you are deeply confused about either timeline or logic or both.
Not sure why you've now decided to go for snark and being snide?
> 20 million American adults had access to the Internet
That seems like a lot of people to me?
But what has any of this got to do with headphones?! Why are you telling me about when models of telephone came out or when people had access to the internet? The thread is about how long headphones last.
> > 20 million American adults had access to the Internet
> That seems like a lot of people to me?
Yes, that's true. 20 million Americans is a lot of people.
But in 1996 the population of US was about 265 million, so I was completely right to say that "quarter of century ago most people even if heard about the Internet they haven't had a chance to use it yet".
> Not sure why you've now decided to go for snark and being snide?
Not sure why you have decided to oppose what is clearly true and accurate statements with illogical sentences. You could have just ignored it or even downvoted if you decided it worsens overall quality of HN content.
But you decided to write false, illogical responses and you should by now know how it ends on HN.
Sorry I still don't get what you mean - what has the internet and mobile phones got to do with headphones? I don't get why you brought it up in the first place or why you think it's relevant? Seems like unrelated trivia?
Not the OP but I think their point is that while you might not think a quarter of a century is that long of a period, relative to most products in tech, it is a stupendously long time for a product to be still in use. It would be like using a phone from 1996 today.
The big problem is the materials used won't last, even presuming you will replace the earpads and maybe parts of headband.
Closest we've come to this is old pairs of Sennheiser HD580. Very high quality plastics, still get scraped and loose over time.
Full steel or aluminum construction holds up much better.
The materials for the main part of headphones would last probably indefinitely if kept in dark, dry place, undisturbed.
On the other hand the foam that is part of the pads lasts months to maybe couple of years depending on use.
If you bought ones with leather it will last for many decades IF you know how to take care of leather.
If you avoid throwing, dropping or otherwise banging headphones on things, don't come outside in them and don't stretch the headband more than is absolutely necessary to put on your head I estimate they can be maintained practically forever (definitely more than user's lifetime).
Maintanence:
- keep them clean with dry cloth,
- use something to clean/protect leather from drying out,
- replace pads maybe every year or two,
- replace pads on headband maybe once every 10 years,
- disassemble completely to remove hair and other detritus, probably every 5 years
- fix the cable that tends to break after prolonged use, I am gentle so maybe once in 7 years.
This is history of maintenance of my headphones which I use every day, entire day.
To be honest I've not done any maintenance on my 25y oldish Beyerdynamics beyond jury rigging a fix to the support of the left earpiece which lost a critical small piece of plastic in a minor impact. Yes - the pads could use a replacement but it's not critical. Yes, they are a bit grimy. But work well :)
A quarter of a century is certainly long enough to buy something, use it for a good long time and then pass it along to your now adult children. Maybe it was time for an upgrade, or they just don't use them any more? And in another 25 years maybe they will do the same.
A generation is roughly 20-30 years - people don't tend to have kids at the end of their lives.
'Quarter of a century' sounds dramatic... but it's just two and a half decades and less than a third of one lifetime... not passing down generations.