If you own a pair of Apple-friendly Monster headphones that haven’t been very Apple-friendly lately, you’re not alone. A source at Apple recently told BGR that customers are complaining en masse of “erratic behavior” associated with music playback on Apple devices. The problems affect the iPhone, iPad and Apple’s iPod range, and include random pausing, playing and skipping forward or back through songs. Apple has determined internally that these problems are being caused by a variety of Monster headphone models that make improper use of Apple’s Remote and Mic technology despite advertising compatibility with Apple products. Specifically, the problematic models “use conductive flanges, which can result in electrical shorts that cause an iPod or iPhone to pause and play erratically.” According to Apple, these headphones “do not meet Apple’s technical specifications,” and the company is afraid customers might think Apple products are responsible for the associated malfunctions. Offending Monster headphones include the Jamz, Lil Jamz, Turbine Basic, Turbine Pro and Heartbeats product lines.
UPDATE: Monster has issued the following statement to BGR:
Monster was recently made aware by Apple that some of our Jamz™, Turbine™ and Heartbeats™ headphones with ControlTalk™ may experience some irregularities under certain circumstances (it does NOT affect ControlTalk™ Universal). This irregularity potentially affects a very small fraction of our headphones and to this date we have received no customer complaints. However, because the customer experience is our top priority, Monster immediately stopped shipment of all potentially affected products.
With the exception of the black or chrome Heartbeats with ControlTalk™, this issue does not affect any other of the Beats™ by Dr. Dre™ products. If you think you are experiencing a problem with one of the headphones listed below, please contact Monster customer service [http://www.monstercable.com/service] to receive a replacement.
Potentially affected products include ControlTalk versions of Lil Jamz™, Jamz™, Turbine™, Turbine Pro and Heartbeats™.
Hit the jump for another screen shot showing Apple’s full list of problematic Monster headphone models
