The problem of “earbud tangle” is one that man kind has been trying to overcome for years. You put your earbuds in your pocket, and when you take them out later, they’ve manifested themselves into some sort of balled up knot. It’s a frustrating phenomenon that most of us have simply come to accept.

Not the good people at J2 Product Development. Rather than succumb to the will of their earbuds, they took matters into their own hands and invented the Kordl, a teenie tiny device that clips onto your earbud cable and keeps them from becoming tangled. How does it work? One side of the Kordl loops on to the bottom of your earbud cable near the plug, and you clip both of the individual L and R earbud wires into the other side. This makes a loop out of your cable, ensuring that the cord won’t tangle.

And it actually works. Once you’ve got the Kordl attached to your earbuds, they can’t and don’t get tangled up. I tried bunching my Apple EarPods up into a ball, shoving them in my pocket, tossing them around a bit, and still they remained in a loop. To undo the loop, you simply grab both ends of the cable and pull. It’s a simple little accessory that works wonders.

But there is also one noteworthy flaw with the concept.

Seeing as you can’t use your earbuds while they are looped, Kordl would be considered a storage device. But where does one store such a teenie tiny trinket? I kept my Kordl attached to the bottom of my earbuds while I was using them, which proved to be a terrible choice, because I lost it. Somewhere, somehow, the Kordl fell off my earbuds and I have no idea where it is. As I sit here typing this, my Kordl is probably on the floor of a TTC bus, roaming the streets of Toronto for destinations unknown.

Granted, J2 says the unit I was testing was a prototype, so perhaps the final shipping product will fit tighter. I’m also told the fit of the Kordl will depend on your earbuds, as some cords may be thicker than others. It’s worth noting that I was testing the Kordl on my iPhone 5 “earpods”, and one would assume that an earbud accessory like the Kordl would be tailored to one of the most “popular” sets of earbuds around.

The Kordl is an impressive little accessory, with such a simple premise I’m surprised it hasn’t been thought of before. But as with any pin or clip or sticker you attach to something, there’s a chance it could fall off - as mine did. At $2.50 a piece, you could almost look at the Kordl as a “disposable” accessory - it’s not a huge loss if it goes missing. So if you’re really sick of having to untangle your earbuds every time you use them, Kordl is definitely worth checking out.

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