How to Neatly Wrap a Headphone Cord

I'm always tangling things up and it's not so bad until a I tangle a bunch of cords up into a swarm of spaghetti. - Link


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Oldest comments listed first.

Posted by: DominicArenas on January 2, 2007 at 12:18 AM

Insulting!


Posted by: mastershake916 on January 2, 2007 at 12:50 AM

What is it with people and ipod earbuds?
You're so bad, they hurt your ears and have poor sound.
And on the daisy MP3 play how0to, they used ipod earbuds, it's sad, the most independent MP3 player still uses the most mainstream earbuds.


Posted by: mastershake916 on January 2, 2007 at 12:50 AM

I mean they're so bad, the ipod earbuds.


Posted by: BruceR on January 2, 2007 at 2:40 AM

I was expecting something a bit more innovative.

Why don't MP3 players have a couple of hooks and clips on them so you can wind the cord up like on a vacuum cleaner.

Sounds like a nice innovation for a Daisy case.


Posted by: VoiceOfWisdom on January 2, 2007 at 6:54 AM

I can't believe that you posted this crap!


Posted by: Bre on January 2, 2007 at 7:19 AM

Sometimes I post things that are just downright practical. I haven't seen much innovation in cord storage except for apple's little hooks on their power supplies and those spring loaded usb cords. If you've got some innovative way of storing cords, let us know.


Posted by: HelgeGudmundsen on January 2, 2007 at 7:50 AM

Thanks for posting this Bre, it is nice to see simple, practical advice.


Posted by: dodge.d on January 2, 2007 at 10:01 AM

Do not try this at home. This is exactly how you damage the wire. There is a maxim radius that you can bent the wire this exceeds that and puts tiny breaks in the wire overtime you will loose sound on different frequencies or all together.


Posted by: Prozacgod on January 2, 2007 at 10:43 AM

Bre - Thanks for posting anything!, doesn't matter how practical or impractical or whatever You can quote this - The dissemination of information will breed innovation.

Which is exactly why commentors like dodge.d are great, he explained a technical limitation on why you need to be careful bending wires, I've tried to explain this to friends who wonder why there game controllers are flaky.

As for my tip, I gave up untangling cords a long time ago. I like many other blue collar americans have a draw/cabinet space full of nothing but shopping bags. I individually wrap cords for long term storage in bags, then there is no more spaghetti. I do this when I go to lan parties as well. Obviously you can use sandwich bags or zip locks for smaller stuff.


Posted by: Markp.com on January 2, 2007 at 11:33 AM

Never ever ever ever wrap your headphones tightly in this way! Its the quickest way to snap the wire inside the headphones.

When I worked in recording studios in the early 90's the first thing they told everyone was to NEVER wrap audio cables tightly, its the quickest way to damage them.


Posted by: mastershake916 on January 2, 2007 at 12:56 PM

http://www.smartwrap.net/
http://cableorganizer.com/cord-it/
I've seen earbuds that have a litle element inside that can be spun, making it easy to quickly wrap up the headphone cords.
Just cut a hole in the side of one of those and glue part of the cord to the inside.


Posted by: mastershake916 on January 2, 2007 at 12:59 PM

Like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR-E828LP-Fontopia-Earbuds-Winding/dp/B00008VF63
or for people who keep their damn uncomfortable iPod earbuds:
http://www.sjgreatdeals.com/jasho97750.html


Posted by: kellyblue on January 2, 2007 at 5:23 PM

Coil a cable like you do all professional cables, over flip, over flip,....do not remember the correct term, but tha will ruin the cord on earbuds


Posted by: kellyblue on January 2, 2007 at 5:28 PM

http://stagecraft.theprices.net/gallery/cablewrap/cablewrap.mov


Posted by: tsangal on January 3, 2007 at 10:20 AM

Similar to Prozacgod, I find clear Ziploc bags an easy way to keep a drawer full of cables organized.


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