Solving the office headphone switching issue.

I normally listen to music in iTunes while I am working. When doing desktop work using iTunes with Butler for fast switching of songs is the best solution for me. But I also use the phone a lot. So, when the phone rings I need to take off my headphones and switch to my iPhones handsfree. And when the call is over I have to switch back to the laptop headphones. Very impractical, annoying and disturbing, as this happens quite often. I tried using BluePhoneElite with my former Phone – an Nokia 6300 that is mostly crap – but that did not exactly work very well.

And now I finally got a round to buying an iPhone 3G. And I try using BluePhoneElite with that as well – and it turns out it wasn’t the Nokia that was teh crap, it’s BluePhoneElite. And I bought a license for that piece of shit. Well, that pretty much concludes the whole use-laptop-as-phone-handsfree idea. Does not work. Am I doomed to be switching headphones for the rest of my life?

Enter AirPhones. Instead of using the laptop as a headset, I can now use my iPhone as speakers! It works pretty much like AirTunes, only you can not use an iPhone as an AirTunes speaker. AirPhones are even better, as they will also stream audio when playing video with iTunes ((Altough, it is rumoured it does not play the audio from VLC )) . As long as your Mac and your iPhone is on the same network – typically WiFi ((If you do not have wireless where you are you can always set up an Ad-Hoc wifi network. That works as well)) – you are able to use your iPhone as a speaker with either the built in speaker or headset. And when the phone rings AirPhones takes a break while you talk, then comes back. Pure bliss.

One little trick is to turn down the volume completely on your Mac before you start AirPhones. That way, when the phone rings you will not suddenly get music out of your internal speakers.

All in all, the best money I ever spent on the iPhone appstore. Thanks AirPhones! And remember – do the fancy dance.