The Ruark DAB radio hasn't been pushed aside either - it still reigns supreme for live radio. I'm glad because the Ruark is a classy bit of home or caravan furniture, the centrepiece still of my audio line-up.
Neither of the above are for playing music loudly. I don't want to bother the neighbours with noise, nor poleaxe them with my cringe-inducing taste in music. The same applies in the caravan. Or indeed when travelling on a train. The listening has to be private. So for all that I use earbuds.
Hitherto I've stuck to wired earbuds that plug into my mobile phone. This once looked cool. Do you remember the first iPod ads in the 2000s? The guy who was dancing around in silhouette, with the wires of his iPod flying around as he grooved?
Those flying wires emphasised the brilliant fact that he was moving around as free as a bird. The iPod (clutched in one hand) was his ultra-portable source of music, an essential part of his (or anyone's) dancing kit. It was a striking image.
And a wired set of earbuds did work rather well, if you wanted to listen to your favourite music quietly and privately - on the train or bus, say. It also became a way - in such situations - of shutting out the world around you, an isolating social trend that is now so well-established as to be disturbing. It was equally a boon for inadequate show-offs who wanted to pose around the streets with 'high-tech' equipment in their lugholes: presumably they hoped to be admired. They are still around, living the original iPod dream, I suppose.
In more mundane situations, such as when washing the dishes or ironing, those wires tended to get hooked on nearby objects, yanking the earbuds out.
And what did you do with the iPod itself, when you needed both hands free? Put it in a pocket? What if that wasn't possible?
And what about the tangle that wired earbuds always got into, if you had stuffed them into a small storage bag, and then took them out again? So often, a knotted mess. Not how it should be.
All these pesky practical problems went unaddressed while the iPod was gradually overtaken in popularity (and then replaced) by the iPhone. And similarly with wired-earbud/phone combinations from other makers. I started my own mobile-audio journey with a Nokia E71 smartphone in 2009, which came with its own set of wired earbuds. At the time I thought them both very impressive, but of course they became museum-pieces, and I junked them long ago.
The Nokia was replaced by a Samsung Galaxy S2 in 2012, then a Samsung Galaxy S5 in 2014, and my present Samsung Galaxy S8+ in 2017. All these phones came with a set of wired earbuds in the box. To my ears, the wired earbuds that came with the S5 were the best of these bundled sets, and I'm still using them today. The AKG set supplied with the S8+ was actually a step back, I thought. A token effort only, encouraging you to buy something better. Even I could tell.
Not willing in 2017 and 2018 to spend big money on fancy earbuds, I've stuck with the same ones since 2014. But it's time now for a change, for something better.
And change will be necessary anyway. A while back Apple, clearly wanting to force people to buy its own very expensive wireless earbuds, got rid of the audio socket. It caused uproar at the time, but it was inevitable. Other makes have been poised to follow suit. I expect the next phone I buy (probably a Samsung galaxy S12+ in 2021) to be devoid of any way of plugging in wired earbuds. So I'll have to go wireless. I might as well do it sooner rather than later.
So what to buy?
Having read a few online reviews, I have my eye on these RHA TrueConnect earbuds:
As with all proper wireless earbuds, the wires are entirely replaced by bluetooth. The earbuds rest (and recharge) in the case when not in use, and from time to time the case itself is charged up. (Another thing to add to my growing list of gadgets that run on battery power!) All the reviews praise these RHA earbuds. They cost around £150, but then I shall shortly get my hands on BT's other free gift, that £65 pre-paid credit card, which will offset a big chunk of the expense.
Initially, I shall use them as I do now, for excitingly loud (but private) listening when ironing. But at last I'll be able to dispense with that wired connection to my phone, which at the moment has to rest in a bum bag slung over my hips. So no more flappy wires, and no more bum bag.
But I also want to take more exercise at home, and I envisage bluetoothing suitable music to these earbuds, enabling me to go through an envigorating disco or Flashdance routine in my lounge, completely unencumbered by wires. All part of my personal drive to maintain suppleness and aerobic ability as my seventieth birthday gets nearer.
I can therefore regard wireless earbuds as 'health equipment', and justify the cost accordingly. I'm sure that joggers and gym-goers say the same thing.
I'm curious to find out how secure wireless earbuds are - will they fall out of my ears and get lost? I won't know until I start using them. Thankfully, I don't usually lose small bits and pieces. I'm careful with my things.
When will I go shopping? I have to get my hands on that BT credit card first. It's available to me from 8th August, which is three days from now. So by mid-August the deed should be done, and I'll be gyrating to the Bee Gees (aka the Kings of Disco, of course) or laying down a frenzied air guitar solo in the manner of Guns N' Roses, or Def Leppard.
All while ironing my nightie and pillowcase. Super cool, huh?
