Music is the primary highlight of many students’ days. Music shows up wherever you are – on the radio, at football games, in classrooms. Music is all around us, and most of us choose to listen to it every day. So what can make the experience better?

If you take a walk around a high school flooded with teenagers, the one thing you will see almost every student have in their possession is AirPods, with music blasting in their ears at max volume. And just recently Apple came out with yet another AirPod that supposedly makes the experience better.

In 2016, Apple ditched the wired headphones and came out with wireless earbuds known as the AirPod. Several versions followed: The entry level AirPods had two generations, the mid-range had three, and the noise canceling AirPod Pros have already had two generations.

Now in 2023, we have the “AirPod Pros (2nd Generation),” which supposedly deliver “the personal audio experience.”

Some new features include “Adaptive Audio,” which automatically prioritizes sounds that need your attention as you move through the world. By seamlessly blending Active Noise Cancellation with Transparency Mode when you need it, Apple claims, “Adaptive Audio magically delivers the right mix of sound for any environment.” They also have an amazing battery life, lasting almost six hours in one charge.

Although all of these advanced features are nice to have, at one point won’t it eventually get to be too much?

AirPods are made to fit in your pocket and be taken anywhere, any time. Is that a good thing? Most would say yes, but what risks are you taking? According to Tech.co, the odds are 1 in 6 of losing your AirPods, or roughly 17 percent. According to CBS News, “People spend over half a billion replacing them per year.” With a price tag of $249 (if purchased directly from Apple), those are big risks, and you never really know what could happen.

But could they actually be worth it?

We walked around SFHS and asked some students what they thought about the new AirPods. Here’s what they said:

“Not worth the 200 bucks. If it were less, for sure it would be worth it.”

“Not being able to hear anything around you is great.”

“So worth it.”

“Get ’em. They’re worth it.”

In reality, can’t we still have that “personal experience” with any normal pair of headphones? Why complicate the idea? Then again, why not complicate the idea?