A few weeks ago new rumors emerged that Apple might kill the headphone jack in its next iPhone, and the tech sphere did its damnedest to convince Apple it's a mistake. The Verge's Nilay Patel made an excellent case for why this move would be user-hostile and stupid, citing the ineffectiveness of copyright enforcement technologies (among other reasons); some whole-heartedly agreed with him; others took a resistance-is-futile approach.

My take on why this might be a bad idea is simpler: Bluetooth headphones are annoying. I've rotated through more than a dozen different pairs of wireless Bluetooth headphones over the past few months for another Verge project I'm working on, and I've been simultaneously impressed with how good some of them now sound and utterly irritated by almost all other aspects of them.

The main benefit of Bluetooth headphones is obvious: They're cable-free. You can do stuff that you can't do when you're not wearing your headphones like a tangled bolo tie. They're great for working out. Some people really, really love them.

Wired headphones aren't very cutting edge, but they're also not completely broken

The downsides? You have to charge them. And pair them. Late for a conference call you need to dial into? Hold on — you need to jam your Bluetooth buds in your ears and pair them to your phone if you're not already paired. Got a sudden burst of motivation to work out? Sorry, no music — headphones are dead. (Substitute "work out" for "play video games"; same thing.) A plastic three-button remote is a poor substitute for an entire phone interface when it comes to controlling music, answering phone calls, or using Siri. Some Bluetooth headphones even have the remote-control functions built into the earbuds themselves — which means every time you try to adjust your earbuds, you inadvertently skip a song.

Of course, wireless headphones wouldn't be the only solution for iPhone users if the phone lost its headphone jack; the Lightning port could double as an audio port, or Apple could surprise us with a USB-C digital audio port. There will be some way to tether wired headphones to the phone. But those headphones may very well be proprietary. And a lot of people won't want to deal with that. And that's where Bluetooth headphones will come in.

Bluetooth headphones are getting better. Some even claim 30 hours of battery life. They'll continue to improve. But right now I still prefer my archaic wires and a 3.5mm jack. They're not very cutting edge. But they're also not broken.