Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 17 March 2009 11:48
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
Reports that the new iPod shuffle headphones include an "authentication" chip are now known to be misleading at best.
As is often the way, some people greeted the arrival of the iPod shuffle by pulling one apart.
And one of the things they found was that the remote controller contained a mysterious chip.
With classic 1+1=3 reasoning, they jumped to the conclusion that it was an authentication chip to stop non Apple approved third-party earphones from working with the new iPods.
It turns out that the truth is far more mundane.
The chip converts remote-control button presses into the right combination of signals on the 'microphone' channel on the earphone connector.
Unlike conventional three-way stereo mini-jacks (left, right, ground), the connectors used by Apple has an extra ring to accommodate the microphone signal.
Please
read on.
