Okay, I'll admit that my last post of last week devolved into something of a Andy Rooney-esque rant. Actually, it began as a rant and snowballed. I probably should have prefaced the whole thing by saying that my momentary blind rage against the modern-day atrocity that is the blister pack should not be taken as any sort of reflection on the AirDrives headphones that came inside that nearly impenetrable plastic cocoon.

As much as I would like to knock a couple of points off every company that uses that manner of packing, that isn't a realistic course of action. Because, well, pretty much everyone uses blister packs. And to AirDrives' credit, the company's director of business development left a thoughtful response to my post, which reads, in part:

I completely share your feelings on blister packs. The reality is they are a requirement of the retailers. All the good headphones at Best Buy share this same issue to reduce theft and meet merchandising requirements. I am very open to suggestions on packaging. Each Christmas I curse the toy companies that use all the screws and wire ties to keep their products secured in the cardboard boxes as I try to get the toys into my kid's hands.

Better yet, the company's PR firm sent me a package this morning that contained a pair of AirDrives surrounded a swath of bubble wrap, with the following handwritten note:

Hi Brian,

I saw that you had a bit of trouble with the AirDrives packing--hopefully this will help! Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help.

Lauren.

Now, for the record, I did manage to get the original packing open. Years of experience have given me the skills and patience needed to separate a pair of headphones from a plastic tomb without too much blood loss. Still, I appreciate the sentiment.

Unfortunately, neither AirDrives nor any other headphone company possesses the resources to FedEx a pair to every customer. (OK, maybe Bose does. I hear it's totally loaded.) So perhaps now is the time, as various headphone-company higher-ups are looking, to suggest some non-blister alternatives. Any bright ideas?