That question might seem absurd at first glance, but I guarantee I can change your mind.

Earlier tonight, my headphones died. They were in-ear headphones made by Sony. At the time, they were about $50, and when that was, I'll get to later. I had used them for the main sound source on my computer, and I took them with me into the world everytime I journeyed with my iPod.

Anyway, right after they died tonight, I quickly scrambled to the Best Buy website to see what kinds of headphones were being offered. I only use in-ear, so I went to browse them. Eventually, I came to this guy: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.js p?skuId=8348576&type=product&id=117650 6889494 The first thing that came to my mind, which would probably come to anyone's mind at first was "What the fuck, that's absurd for headphones".

All of a sudden, it hit me. My headphones that had just died were a little more than FOUR years old. They served me every single day for over four years. Then I thought about it some more. Nothing that I own is nearly that old. I bought the headphones more than 4 years ago. I've been through a computer since then, 2 cell phones (about $500 each), an iPod, a school, even a major period of my life.

Those headphones came with me on planes, car rides, long trips, vacations, so many places I can't even remember. And they were also with me every single day while I used the computer and required sound (which is most of the time). It's funny how they even have sentimental value because of all they've been through.

But back to the main point -- These headphones gave me 4 durable years. The sound quality was very good. When I look back at all of that, I almost say to myself how can I NOT get these headphones... They are clearly the best on the market (not because of high price, every review raves), and I'm going to potentially have them longer than any other item I will by in the near future. How can you go wrong?

The bottom line is we wouldn't think twice about buying some pricey items, but then when it comes to headphones, it seems like they shouldn't have that price tag. All I know is if something is going to give me 4+ years of enjoyment, $550 is a small price to pay.

EDIT:
My mom was trying to convince me not to buy them because of the steep price tag, and she's like "let's look on the Apple site". We go on there, and sure enough (no pun intended), they are featuring Shure headphones. They had the most reviews on them of any site I found, and the reviews were spectacular and that basically has sold me. You can read them here. That's more than enough proof for me. Apple is selling them, and the reviews are outstanding.

Anyway, as per cumSum's suggestion in a comment on this post, I think I'm going to buy it via tigerdirect.com. Does anyone know how they are? I assume they are pretty reputable... Thanks again cumSum for pointing that out to me.

So I'm going to do a tad more research, and I think I'll probably buy within the next few days. I'll be sure to make a new post letting you guys know how they are.

EDIT #2:
PURCHASED! Took me longer than I wanted to, but it's done. I couldn't get it from Tigerdirect because they were out of stock and said it could be 7-21 days. I ordered them from this site: http://www.earphonesolutions.com/she5p utoheea.html So far they seem outstanding. I ordered at about 3:30 PM today, chose free USPS shipping, and they mailed out the product today with Fedex shipping instead of USPS ground. So, I should have them in a matter of a few days.