I apologize. I should have read the other product reviews for this item before I bought them ... would have saved me several dollars and alot of trouble ... These are quite simply the most bizarrely designed set of headphones ever sold by any manufacturer. Indeed, they are simply unusable. The odd cord length makes these headphones impossible to use unless the connected player is in your shirt pocket.True, they sound terrific, but Amazon.com needs to just drop this item from the store. Instead, try Sony MDR-EX51LP Fontopia Headphones (same tech specs, but with normal cords and $10 cheaper!!).