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Product Review: Monster iFreePlay

I’ve been waiting for this product to come out since before I knew it was coming out. Don’t you love your iPod Shuffle? Don’t you hate messing with the headphone wires when you’re trying run, work out, or just walk down the street with a backpack? I do! And I’ve always thought, “These iPods are getting so small, they should just build them into the headphones.” Well, turns out I was right. Except Monster took my great idea one step further with the iFreePlay, and built a Shuffle dock right into the headphones. So of course, when I first saw these on Gizmodo, I ran out and bought some. Here’s my revew.

The Package
The packaging is fairly modest. There’s an eco-friendly cardboard box that beats those human-proof plastic blisters that most audio equipment come in these days. There’s also a plastic form that holds the headphones themselves, and brief paper instruction book that I didn’t even look at. I was a little disappointed to not find extra ear foams, but it was kinda nice to not see excessive packaging, stickers and plastic films.

The Product
Despite it’s heavy metal appearance, the product is surprisingly light and plastic-y. My initial reaction was that it felt kinda cheaply made, but upon further inspection, it appears fairly well made and the lighter weight turns out to be a bonus. The sound quality is what you would expect from Monster — really good — and with no batteries required, I was able to crank it to an inappropriate level with only the slightest distortion.

The Design
These only come in silver, so if you have a silver Shuffle great, but they go with all the other colors. I have orange and I think it kinda shows off the iPod which is cool, besides the Shuffle sticking out, they look and feel just like a regular pair of headphones. Because the dock is a headphone jack, the Shuffle sits inverted. So to do volume up, you press down (and vice-versa) which takes a minute to get used to. (There’s tiny bump to help you keep the orientation straight.) Track forward is the direction you’re running and track back is behind you which is surprisingly intuitive. Play/pause, of course, is in the middle.

Running
I’m already accustomed the over-the-ear headband form factor, so these felt pretty natural to me. If you are used to the ear buds, these might be a little distracting to run with at first, but you will soon get over it. Once you remember how distracting it was messing with wires or having your circulation cut off by that arm band, you will feel truly liberated. As an added bonus, the large foam pads keep your ears warm on cold mornings.

Working Out
The iFreePlay truly shines at the gym. No more wires getting tangled in the machines or iPods falling from your pocket. Plus the behind the head part does not get in the way when laying on a bench. They hang conveniently around the neck when not in use, or fold up neatly to fit in a gym bag.

Overall, I give these a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I knocked some off because, for the price of $49.95, I would have expected a pair of extra ear foams, but I love the form factor, the sound quality and convenience. Available at the Apple Store.