Where to tuck away your Apple EarPods when not in use was a dilemma that the pocket used to be the answer to. But some young British sparks believe they've come up with a better way. They call it the Mous Musicase and it combines an iPhone shell styled case with a tidy wind up way of storing and accessing your Apple EarPods that rids tangling of cables.

Usability

Right away we should note that storing the EarPods adds considerable thickness to the case which is rather hard to swallow, as one of the biggest changes that comes with each new iPhone generation is the pleasing reduction of thickness. However, holding the case in landscape and portrait views whilst writing emails, playing games, surfing Safari, etc wasn’t horrible, in fact it was pleasant. The entire exterior of the case has a soft-touch rubberised feel and does assist the grip. Despite the EarPods' buds protruding out of the case when held, in portrait view they don’t interfere where our hand is commonly placed. In landscape view, we found ourselves often using the pods to rest our index finger in-between. One negative of the buds sticking out that we found, is that they can seriously dig into your leg if the case is in your pocket with the phone's screen facing out.

Design

The Mous Musicase is available in blue, black, white and a limited edition green. The winder can be selected in white, black, pink, gold and purple, so variety and refreshment can be had if you have more than one winder. Our blue case with a pink winder for the iPhone 5/5s (iPhone 6 version is on the way) is neoteric by itself and when the Apple EarPods are visibly sticking out of the case, it generates lots of inquisitive interest from strangers. Key functionality of the iPhone 5/5s, like the volume buttons, mute switch, speaker, Lightning port and sleep/wake button are all accessible through the case. The camera and LED flash on the rear of the iPhone are cut out and quality doesn’t suffer from the depth of the case causing shadows.

Setup & How It Works

We were surprised and happy to see just how easy it was to assemble the case with the EarPods equipped. We’ve repeatedly taken it apart and reassembled it over the weeks of using the Mous Musicase and it’s a truly simple task to complete. The audio jack fastens itself onto the back of the winder, the EarPods have a very visible home too, and in operation the whole design works well. When in college, at work or just walking around the park, such a convenience is especially favourable. As we unwound the cable we found that it was important that the EarPods were first pulled out of the case, otherwise jams can occur; after this we could just pull the EarPods and they unwound in seconds. Winding the cable back in takes around 10-15 seconds to complete. One thing that we feel worth noting is that the iPhone is placed into the case bare and our iPhone 5 was left with marks (that did wipe away) on its back from the EarPods touching it. Our solution, for reassurance purposes, was to install a thin self adhesive body protector. 

Overall

The Mous Musicase has achieved what its inventors intended. Overlooking the added thickness, this case is no chore to use and we’re happy that it links two items commonly used together into a straightforward format; and the fact that cable tangling is no longer prevalent makes our EarPods instantly usable at all times.