I have gone through two sets of ZAGG smartbuds and am now trying out a pair of Skullcandy’s 50/50 earbuds. I’ve used them both enough to give a fair review of both. First let me say that I do not listen to music, but I am a hardcore users of these earbuds. I wear them everyday. If you’re interested, I am a hardcore listener of podcasts and audio books. I listen at the gym, in the car, at the grocery store, while I mow the lawn… pretty much anytime I’m by myself with nothing to do.

ZAGG smartbuds (3.5/5)

Let’s start with the ZAGG smartbuds. I originally bought these because the Apple earbuds that came with my iPhone began to breakdown from over use. At the time these things were 75$, but I was able to get a pretty good coupon… back when ZAGG use to give their stuff away to gain momentum. The second pair I bought second hand from a co-worker who didn’t really like them (he’s stockier than I am and said that the cordage didn’t really work for him). There are many things I loved about these earbuds and many things I didn’t…

Pro’s

1. They can be worn in a way that keeps the buds around your neck, even when not in use. This was probably the most convenient thing about these earbuds and I wore mine everyday like this. It makes it convenient for taking calls, as well as just popping in your earbuds to listen to the No Agenda Podcast (the best podcast in the universe).
2. They are very comfortable, the earbuds actually come with 4 different sets of earbud adapters, 2 sizes of the thin silicone earbuds and 2 sets of the thicker foam earbuds. I used the smallest size foam and thought that they fit the best and gave the best noise cancellation affect, great for when I was listening to Beyond the Box Podcast with Steve Sensenig and Raborn Johnson.
3. They generally sound great, bare in mind, I’m listening to mostly podcasts and the audio quality doesn’t need to be amazing for me to get what I need, but I’ve never had any major problems with the sound.

Con’s

1. The regular iPhone headphones have push button volume up/down controls and the hang-up/answer button. The ZAGG smartbuds has the hang-up/answer button, but the volume control is actually separate from the the iPhone controls, it’s a slide. It kind of gives you a little more control over the volume, since you can control the headphone volume from your iPhone and then also from your headphones. However, I found this to be a nuisance more than anything. I always kept my iPhone volume up to 100% and controlled the actual headphone volume using the slider. However, it seemed like at some points in the “slide” the volume went from just too low to just too high. I think it would have been much more sensible to just use the volume up/down controls like the Apple earbuds.
2. My first pair started to get some static, it seemed like the 3.5mm connector  started to wear down so whenever it moved in my pocket I’d hear some crackling noises.
3. I really liked that I could keep the earbud around my neck… but occasionally I’d be reminded that at any time some ninja could sneak up behind me while I’m listening to This Week in Tech and strangle me to death with my own earbuds.
4. They claim that they have a noise cancelling mic. I’m not sure how this works or if it even worked. I didn’t really detect any real noise cancelling effect apart from the foam earbuds. I could be wrong, but I did occasionally have to set the volume to the highest setting. I would think with “noise cancellation” it would have cancelled the noise around me better. This is true for both pairs I owned.
5. It’s actually kind of hard to store these earbuds. The cordage is much longer than a typical set, and there are many “hard” places that seem to get into the way of how I normally wrap a set of earphones.

Skullcandy 50/50 Earbuds (4/5)

After I accidentally broke my second pair of ZAGG smart buds (my first pair broke on their own somehow). I needed to get a new set of earbuds. It’s hard to come by a good ZAGG coupon these days, so I had to look elsewhere for my podcast listening needs. After a few search and reading some reviews on Amazon I decided to try out the Skullcandy 50/50 earbuds.

Pro’s

1. These actually have the Apple standard volume up/down control buttons. This is so much better than a slider to control the volume, I no longer have to fight for the “perfect” volume when I listen to the Freakonomics Podcast.
2. I broke my last set of smartbud because of the “around the neck” feature, I don’t have to worry about that with these, if I snag the cord on something they’ll just pop out of my ears. But if I’m not wearing them, they’ll be put in my pocket anyway. So hopefully these will last me longer than the smartbuds did.
3. Like the smartbuds, the sounds quality is great. I haven’t noticed any problems, no snapping, or crackling. Though I haven’t had these as long as my first part of the smartbuds.
4. It is much easier to wrap up these headphones in and store them, though this is only against the ZAGG smartbuds, I’m sure any traditional headphones would be just as easy as these are. It’s still a PRO because I no longer have to deal with that hassle.

Con’s

1. I don’t know why they are made this way, but their silicone earbud adapters are horrible (at least for me). They sound fine, but the problem is they have little embossed “skulls” on them, which basically makes the inside of my ear itch like crazy. It’s like having a small grain of sand in your ear. Luckily, I had all my earbud adapters from my ZAGG collection. The foam ones didn’t really work (they didn’t fit right on the earphones), but the ZAGG silicone adapters worked great, and they’re actually very comfortable. I know this is turning into a pro, but it’s a con… because I think you’ll have to buy a third-party set of silicone earbud adapaters to get a comfortable feel. Skullcandy really needs to change this (seriously, who the heck is going to see the “skull” in your ears anyway). Though I never saw this complaint in the reviews I’ve read, it might just be me.
2. These don’t have the same feature that lets you keep the earbuds around your neck. It’s not a deal-breaker, but I really did like that about the smartbuds. Though I don’t really need to worry about ninjas as much.
3. These earbuds have a chrome piece on the earbuds that actually get pretty cold and is kind of shocking when you put it in your ear. It doesn’t last long, but I don’t enjoy it very much.

So there you have it, I was able to get the Skullcandy 50/50 earbuds a bit cheaper on Amazon than the ZAGG smartbuds. Neither are perfect, but I guess if you don’t want to buy those 200$ earbuds, you’ll have to compromise in one way or another. I think I’m really going to like the Skullcandy 50/50 earbuds though, the biggest complaint I have against them is their embossed silicone earbud adapters. If it wasn’t for that, I’d probably give them 5 (out of five).

I’ve written about Beyond the Box Podcast before and I’ve mentioned it casually in a few other posts. A few weeks ago they released a new episode titled Distracted By Jesus?. This episode was actually part two of a two-part discussion, but this part had something in it that I had never once considered. Steve discussed some of his experiences as a former music leader for a church. They wanted to incorporated new music during their Sunday meeting. Steve discovered something that many of us have seen but I have never realized. Music divides the church!

Ever wonder why you have an early morning meeting with “Traditional” music and an later meeting with “Modern” music? Well, the older people don’t like the modern music and the younger people don’t like the traditional music. Some people have tried to incorporate both types of music in their meetings. That way they please everyone… but does that just end up annoying everyone?

Think about it, you’ll hear older people complaining about how the newer music is not reverent enough, not respectful… or they just do not “get it”. And the younger generation wants something more hip and upbeat, traditional hymns just bore them. But for the past 200+ years, we’ve traditionally played music during the Sunday morning meetings. We have to play something, right?

I’m not sure that removing music would help, I’m sure that would divide as well. To be honest, I do not know what is the best answer, it seems like no matter what you do, it will cause disunity among the church. I think the ultimate problem is that the people who would be upset are not considering the their brothers and sacrificing their own taste. I think an attitude of sacrifice comes from maturity in Christ. What are your thoughts?

Day 1 – The Drive Down

My friend Paul got hitched to his lady Carrie at the end of February. Paul and I have known each other since the womb when our mothers were pregnant together. So, I of course made plans to go down and take part in the wedding festivities. I decided it would be best to drive down. I figured it would probably take me just as long to get to the airport and fly down and would probably cost the about the same.

So I headed down to Florida on Thursday, February 25. I made a pit stop in Tifton, GA to see an old friend, Jason Jones. We had lunch, talked about life, family, God, etc. It was good to see Jason again. I have not seen him in years. By the way, they just confirmed that they are pregnant with a baby boy… they currently have two girls. So this should help even things out :).

After lunch I hit the road again for St. Petersburg, Florida. On my way down I listed to various podcasts (Beyond The Box Podcast, Jeronimo Jack’s Beard) and most of the book The Magicians Nephew (the dramatized version). I have listened to TMN before, but I ran out of podcasts and could not find a good radio station. I also got a call from one of our (Full Throttle Development) clients whose site had been injected with some nice little PHP malware. It was not very good timing, as I was on the road for another 3 hours and Glenn (another owner) was at the hospital with his pregnant wife.

All-in-all it took me about 10 hours to get to St. Petersburg from our house. Including the 30 or so minutes I was lost in Tifton, I figure I spent a little over 8 hours on the road. When I got to St. Petersburg I checked into my hotel, the Ramada Inn. After getting checked in and working on the malware issue, I left to find something to eat. The only place that “sounded good” was Boston Market. Later that night I went to Paul’s hotel and hung out with him and all the guys who came down for the wedding.

Day 2 – Here Comes the Bride

The wedding and ceremony did not actually start until 5:30PM, so I had plenty of day ahead of me. I ate a quick bite at the hotel breakfast and drove to Walmart to buy a toothbrush. After heading back to my hotel, showering, and working a bit, I decided to spend the afternoon at the St. Pete Pier.

I perused some of the tourist trap shops and found a nice place to eat called Captain Al’s. I ordered “The Works” which was basically everything on a cheese burger.

The Works

Before I actually received my order two pigeons walked in (after the busboy left the outside door open). The wandered over to my table. The waitress was able to shoe one away, but the other wanted to hang out with me. She freaked it out a bit and it tried to fly out the window. Of course, this freaked out the waitress. Being the animal lover that I am; I got up, walked over to the bird, gently grabbed it as it was trying to fly through the closed window, and walked it outside freeing it from its prison. A few of the restaurant’s patrons said I should get a slice of key lime pie for being a hero. Unfortunately, I do not like key lime pie… fortunately, the restaurant did not offer me a slice anyway.

The pigeon I rescued...

After the adventure at Captain Al’s I decided to head on up to the St. Pete Pier aquarium. The aquarium was smaller than my house, but it had a lot of interesting fish to look at. I spent about an hour walking around and taking pictures of the various fish. Here are a few of the pictures I took:

After the aquarium I headed down to the ice cream parlor and got myself a scoop. It was about 3:30, so I thought it would be a good idea to head to the hotel and start getting ready for the big wedding. Little did I know that my adventure at St. Pete Pier had not ended. I walked around the pier a bit eating my ice cream and started to make my way to my jeep. As I headed to my jeep a giant deranged seagull flew from behind me and took a big ole bite out of my ice cream! Now, I have lived less than 5 miles from the beach my whole life and have never had a seagull attack me for my food before. I was stunned! Apparently this is not an uncommon occurrence in Florida. Well after I got over the initial shock, I laughed it off and headed back to my hotel and prepared for the wedding.

The wedding was really nice. Paul and Carrie looked very happy together. It was great seeing them get hitched. Here are some pictures of the nights events.

I had a lot of fun. Met some new people, caught up with some old friends from Maine, had some good food, and a little fun cutting the rug. I even got to see baby Danika for the first time, she was adorable. We ended the celebration with some great tasting cigars.

Day 3 – Homeward Bound

Well, I was planning on getting up early to drive home (like 4AM)… but I arrived at my hotel at 1AM. So I ended up sleeping until 8AM, got up and hit the road. On my way home I finished listening to The Magicians Nephew and caught up on a few more podcasts. I ended up getting home around 4PM, for total of 8 hours drive time.

I skipped cardio yesterday, I had to get my hair cut instead. What do you think?

Weight: 185.2 lbs
Waist: 37 inches

Had a great ab workout today… I did Oblique Floor Crunches and I reeeaaaaally felt it. I also listened to a  podcast called FBN by Darin Hufford called “The Spirit of Antichrist”. If you like those sermons where a guy reads a passage of scripture and then talks for an hour about various things, then you’d like his podcast. Me? Not so much. It’s not that he was unscriptural in what he was saying… it’s just not my thing. I will definitely be unsubscribing from that one. I prefer conversational podcasts, not just one guy talking to me. Beyond the Box really needs to put out more podcasts to fit my schedule :). I also checked out a podcast called, “The Voice of the Heretics,” it was pretty good. I just listened to the latest one, I’ll check out the older episodes though.

My wife is also away on a cruise with her mom this week. They’re having a blast – meanwhile I’m stuck home with 9 anxious animals and it’s raining outside so they want to be all up in my grill :).