I don't get your point then? People knew about the internet in 1996! AOL had been mass-market by half a decade at that point. I don't know what you think the mid-90s were like but people were using the internet.

But what have the internet and clamshell telephones got to do with headphones?

I see you are deeply confused about either timeline or logic or both.

"In 1996, just 20 million American adults had access to the Internet," (https://slate.com/technology/2009/02/the-unrecognizable-inte...)

So... again... which of my statements is inaccurate?

I wrote: "quarter of century ago most people even if heard about the Internet they haven't had a chance to use it yet".

How does that conflict with AOL or the quoted above that at that time only 20 million, less than 10%, of Americans had access to the Internet (and access isn't the same as using it)?

Also, this is for USA. The rest of the world did not have anywhere near that much access to the Internet.

Many Americans had heard of the Internet by 1996--for example, it was on the cover of Time Magazine in 1994--but most people who were online were probably just using AOL, Compuserve, etc. and, as you say, not the Internet.

> I see you are deeply confused about either timeline or logic or both.

Not sure why you've now decided to go for snark and being snide?

> 20 million American adults had access to the Internet

That seems like a lot of people to me?

But what has any of this got to do with headphones?! Why are you telling me about when models of telephone came out or when people had access to the internet? The thread is about how long headphones last.

> > 20 million American adults had access to the Internet

> That seems like a lot of people to me?

Yes, that's true. 20 million Americans is a lot of people.

But in 1996 the population of US was about 265 million, so I was completely right to say that "quarter of century ago most people even if heard about the Internet they haven't had a chance to use it yet".

> Not sure why you've now decided to go for snark and being snide?

Not sure why you have decided to oppose what is clearly true and accurate statements with illogical sentences. You could have just ignored it or even downvoted if you decided it worsens overall quality of HN content.

But you decided to write false, illogical responses and you should by now know how it ends on HN.

Sorry I still don't get what you mean - what has the internet and mobile phones got to do with headphones? I don't get why you brought it up in the first place or why you think it's relevant? Seems like unrelated trivia?

Not the OP but I think their point is that while you might not think a quarter of a century is that long of a period, relative to most products in tech, it is a stupendously long time for a product to be still in use. It would be like using a phone from 1996 today.