BMW MP3 Sunwear Thump lookalikes

With unofficial spokespeople like mulleted-bounty hunter Dwayne "Dog" Chapman and crunktastic rapper Lil' Jon, we're not sure that Oakley and its rockin' Thump sunglasses are a perfect fit for BMW's whole luxury-image thing, but Autoblog is reporting that the crafty Germans are slapping their "roundel" onto lookalikes of the questionably-fashionable shades. Available in 512MB and 1GB flavors, BMW's MP3 Sunwear collection defies the conventional wisdom that wearing headphones while driving is totally dangerous, and are perfect for folks who push a 330 but live in a ratty studio and need to display their trashy street cred to bemused onlookers.

[Thanks, Gregger]

[filemonkey @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Err...I hope those ear buds can be turned TOWARD the inner ear.

[Dull @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Having the ear buds stick-out like that makes it safe to wear while driving your new BWM Bike.

[Derek @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

BMW TVs, anyone?

[Fuzz @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Why in god's name would they route the cable outside? That plastic looks bulky enough to feed a cable through.

[Gleb Serbin @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

i am willing to trust ze germanz with my cars but never again with my mp3 players or watches. but im sure there is a bmw fanatic consumer group that will purchase like... a few thousand of these.. its more of a novelty because theyre really not making any recognizeable profit. kinda makes me wonder why they do it.

[Luke @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

I have a feeling that those earbuds detach from the earpieces so you can stick them in your ears. thus the external wires.

i have to say, Oakley's method of earbuds is a lot more elegant. i guess that's why you pay a $300 premium for them.

[Ed Zander @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

"Who's going to wear sunglasses with 100 songs on them? Screw BMW!"

[Mike @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

And I thought Oakley had cornered the market on bad taste. This just goes to show that there is always room for improvement. Does it come with wearable BMW bling?

[szkud @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

eh, I drive a BMW motorcycle and it's nice to have music for long trips, which is exactly what BMW motorcycles are designed for.

But these glasses certainly suck the big one. I would never consider these over my nano. I'd rather ride with a third gen duct taped to my back and Blue-Blockers.

[Steamboat winter @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

I expected muc hmore from BMW, this must be a license deal gone bad

[cuby @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

#9, i would never use a nano while riding a bike; the wind will scratch it beyond recognition.

[John Smith @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Looking at the pic, the earbuds seem to be seperate from the glasses. The arms of the glasses go over your ears, the earphones go into your, erm, ear. This would also explain why the cable is outside the frame.

I'm not impressed - now when your sun glasses get nicked, so does your MP3 player, and when your MP3 player dies you have to wear some dead electronics hanging from the side of your face. Convergence is ok in phones, but this is silly. I don't even know why Oakley have got involved in this silly sun glasses/MP3 player market.

[Cashmore @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

So this is a copy of something nobody liked in the first place? Hmmm...interesting stategy, BMW.

[len @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Lame. There's no place to mount spinners!

[Ken @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Lil Jon is an official endorser, I mean he's in the Thump print ads.

[coleProtocol @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

psshhh...http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/79b1/ from long ago...