Tunes - Tuneflow

It's hump day and I was looking for a quick, fun project to try out. So I figured I try something easy I found over at the Make Magazine blog earlier this week—a set of speakers made from paper cups and a pair of earbud headphones originally created by artist Dmitry Zagga (in no small amount of jest).

We've all struggled with tangled headphones at one point or another—we've dedicated several posts to different headphone wrapping techniques—but the Berkeley Innovation student group offers their own clever and cheap solution to the common problem.

All-things-IKEA weblog IKEA Hacker details how to make an attractive headphone stand for your desk—complete with cable-wrapping posts for cord management—using roughly $15 worth of returned parts from IKEA.

DIY web site Instructables details how to transform your favorite set of earbuds into retractable headphones. The guide requires your headphones of choice and some sort of retractable cable, like a USB sync cable or something of the sort.

Soldering? Duct tape? Pshaw. Sometimes all you need to make something is paper and tape. The do-it-yourselfer at the E-Frank blog wanted a simple, disposable earbud cord wrap for his music player, so he folded one up out of a single piece of paper and sealed it with tape. A "deluxe edition" of the wrap involves adding a slit to the spine to run the cord through. Dead simple and useful, plus you won't feel too bad if you lose it.

When you finally decide it's time to do something about that rat's nest of cables that's spreading like kudzu, you don't have to spend a lot of time and money to get it under control. Whether you're looking to stow your headphone wires tangle-free in your gym bag, hide the ugly wire spaghetti you keep kicking further under your desk, or organize your gadget chargers and power plugs, we've got some cord management tricks for you.