How Beats Has Tricked Us Into Thinking They’re “Premium”

So many Americans (myself included) have been taught to like and want Beats headphones. For DJ’s they’ve become the de-facto brand to wear, and to be seen wearing. Even though the pro versions are great for our job, it’s hard to defend the rest of the line.

As Gizmodo points out:

The sneaky designers at Beats by Dre employ a clever trick to make you think that the company’s plastic headphones are durable products worth the premium price.

 

Beats by Dre headphones are garbage. Besides their crappy sound, they’re basically designed to break. And yet they sell millions of pairs of headphones. It’s practically a perfect business: Take crap and sell it for a fortune. How do they do it? In part it’s marketing, and you know, Dr. Dre. But there’s more.

One of Beats most popular item, the Solo, is a headphone that’s nearly completely brittle plastic and metal weights. The cost to manufacture is a little under $20 with a retail price of $199.

After finding out how insane the profit margin is on beats headphones is, I’m starting to rethink just how “premium” a product it actually is. I know the next time I’m in the market for headphones, I’ll but more emphasis on product quality than the cache that product holds.

Read the full article for the whole low-down.

Source: Gizmodo