I became vaguely aware of Beats Audio when Jimmy Iovine showed up on American Idol with the Beats logo plastered all over everything he owned, and then Dr Dre showed up pimping Hewlett-Packard laptops with Beats inside. I didn't know much of it beyond a branding gimmick, but I learned a lot from this article. Beats were started by Monster? That explains a lot. My old 1980s Koss cans are still working nicely, but all you can find in stores these days are fashion headphones like Beats and Skullcandy for 2x the price of an entry-level set of audiophile headphones that sound twice as good. It's no wonder Monster wanted a part of that market - it's their bread and butter.

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