Airpods and Podcasts

I’ve listened to podcasts for years. I’m currently enjoying a series called The Fault Line – Bush, Blair and Iraq. In a somewhat strange way, I’m rather fond of the second Gulf War. The Afghan war too. I know, war isn’t fun etc. But they were the soundtrack to the Noughties, an ever present feature of daily life. It was the best decade of my life, for reasons entirely unrelated to either war. Yet, much like music and movies, the news reports take me back to a very happy time in my life.

I’m listening to the podcast on my new iPhone 12. Or my Apple Watch. Depends where I am and what I’m doing. And I listen through my new AirPods Pro. I splurged nearly £200 on them, an outrageous amount for a set of in-ear headphones. Are they worth it? Totally. These are the headphones I’ve been waiting my whole life for.

They aren’t just wireless. They are entirely free of any cables. They sound great. They have active noise cancellation, which works just fine for a set of in-ear headphones. I can turn ANC on, of or to transparency mode by squeezing the stem. They work great for phone calls. They work with Siri to do a ton of stuff that I have yet to really figure out.

But here’s the real killer deal with these headphones. When I want to listen to a podcast, I don’t need to connect the headphones. I’ve put them in my ear, I’ve started playing the podcast. It’s obvious what I want to do, so the system just cracks on and does it. No need to tell it. If I switch to my iPad? Again, it knows. It’s obvious. So it just gets on with connecting stuff automatically.

They charge wirelessly too. And they take a charge off the case they sit in. I can’t wait to use them in the gym, knowing that the first thing I’m going to hear won’t be a voice declaring the batteries to be low. I love these headphones. Worth £200? That’s a subjective question. But I’m sold.