A great concept design by Ji Woong, the Zip-It Earphones is basically the bastard child of earphones and a zipper. A zipper is built into the cord, presumably from the audio jack up to a inch or so from the earphone buds themselves.

The volume controls are—fittingly enough—are integrated into the zip pull. The concept calls for twisting the pull to adjust the volume, and pressing a button to prevent accidental volume changes.

I’m all for the Zip-It going on the market, but I think the zipper shouldn’t go all the way up to the person’s ears. The zipper would rub on the wearer’s cheeks, and cause some significant discomfort.

If a company ever decides to turn this concept into reality, how much would you pay for it? Would it also make sense to make a headphone version?

(images courtesy of Ji Woong, source)

According to Gearlog, at least two companies are working on earphones designed for the iPod shuffle. Like the earphones that come with the music player, these planned products feature playback controls right on the earphone cords. Read more

To make a long story short, the Coosh earphones are a worthy buy at $20.

For starters, our first impressions regarding the comfort-level lasted. Again, since there’s padding on the actual earphones themselves, covering the usually sharp seam between the metal grill and the earphone plastic, these earphones can spend the whole day in your ears. Read more