Sometimes the diamond in the rough is just rough on the eyes, and case-in-point: look at the Batband headband that claims to be an ear-free headphone-replacing source of wireless sound.
Mash up a boomerang and your skull.
Go on! Paint it black, like Batman, and let it fly. When it wraps about the back of your head you may have a handsome style akin to the Batband by StudioBananaThings.
This trademarked (my god, they trademarked this?) Kickstarter work of genius shoots what they claim are high fidelity sound at the bones of your skull just above the ears’ locale.
And this design is oh so sexy.
Delivering a source of tunes via Bluetooth from a smartphone or whatever is around to the Batband that is tapped into your “social” outer ear will allow the user to hear sound waves conducted through the bones, rather than the traditional in the ear or over the ear approach to delivering sound.
The best part of this campaign is in this line: Your ears remain free, therefore you get to hear twice as much, without compromising on comfort, quality or style.
So not only do the cumbersome Batbands sit weirdly, like overly developed hairbands put on backwards and therefore do not even help to hold back hair, but these ‘stylish’ things are a tad more obvious on the eyes than miniscule ear buds or even a big ole set of aesthetically pleasing and awesome sound reverberating ear-cupping headphones.
Now Batband lets you hear twice as much. How the hell is that supposed to help?
I don’t know about you, but when I have my headphones or ear buds on, I am trying to cut out the background noise and concentrate on the influx of sound I am sending my ears’ way.
Being able to hear all of the crap in the office – the arguments over disappearing lunch from the fridge, or the humming of the annoying neighbor in the office next door – or the myriad rude cell phone conversations obnoxiously taking place on the train do not help me.
If I have to listen to crap in my ear, while Batband simultaneously sends sound waves directly to my skull, I think I will go mad.
And all of those watching me don this hideous thing will agree.
The real question is, would you rather be able to hear an oncoming car wearing these OR would you rather spend your life wearing a nice set of buds and risk potentially being hit by a car someday? I’ll take my chances.
Inb4 people start getting temple bone cancer.
Not getting hit by a car is good, but I am not sure this Batband is a healthy way to do that…