X
Innovation
Why you can trust ZDNET : ZDNET independently tests and researches products to bring you our best recommendations and advice. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Our process

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?

ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.

When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.

ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.

Close

The $160 gadget that wants you to do something you may never have considered

People do this? People actually want to do this? Apparently.
Written by Chris Matyszczyk, Contributing Writer
Person swimming in H2O earbuds

It's a thing. Apparently.

H2O

You never really know other people. You may think you do but, one day, they'll say or do something that so surprises you, and you'll reimagine your entire view of them.

Sometimes, technology drives them toward these surprising possibilities. As my example, I present something I simply never knew that people did: Listen to a podcast while swimming.

Also: These $99 bone conduction headphones work underwater -- and when you don't have your phone

Does that seem strange to you? I always thought of swimming as an elemental pursuit. There's you in very few clothes, the water with very few ripples and a sense of peaceful exertion, coupled with strange bubbling noises in your ears.

This doesn't seem to be the case for everyone. 

A company called H2O Audio insists it isn't. It wrote to me insisting it isn't. "We have officially launched the H2O Audio Pro Series with the new Playlist+ technology," its enthusiastic press spokesperson told me in an email.

Playlist+? What could this mean?

Well, it's a "groundbreaking technology that loads and stores content from any popular streaming app into the memory of headphones for offline playback later during a swim, run, or workout."

Also: The best headphones you can buy

The company muses that this is found "nowhere else in the world." While I muse about what sort of things I'd like to listen to while swimming.

Please don't tell me "motivational speeches" or "meditational moods." Please, instead, tell me "news of governments drowning in sleaze and awful politicians sinking without trace."

"How deep does this go?" I hear you mumble through the bubbles.

H2O insists that its Pro Series has an IPX8 rating. This allows you to go 12 feet under and still listen safely to gardening tips from experts.

And goodness, you can load your favorite sounds and podcasts while you sleep and your headphones are charging.

So there, is this something you've ever considered? Is this something that'll make your morning swim more edifying? Could this improve your performance? We're all looking to improve our performance, aren't we?

Also: I sweat so much it damages earbuds. Here's what I wear to run now instead

I can't tell you whether this is a sensory experience that'll enhance your life. I can't even tell you whether it's worth the $160 for the privilege of enjoying it.

Still, H2O Audio CEO and founder Kristian Rauhala insists: "This is something our customers have been requesting for years."

I wonder if he could record that sentence on a streaming app so that customers can download it and listen to it on a loop while they swim.

Editorial standards