Just finished college tour with daughter, saw over 25 colleges. Conclusion - 70% generic white ear buds, 15% skullcandy, 10% Beats, 5% other (Grado, etc). More often than not, 5% Grado and other worn by profs and graduate students.
One one hand, fact that 85% are using cheap earbuds/headphones (yes, I include skullcandy here) is not a good sign for the headphone preferences of USA youth. (In fact, some of you might be familiar with annual study done by Stanford prof. with incoming freshmen. He plays very low quality music and very high quality and measures preferences. As high schoolers become used to low quality MP3s, percentage of incoming fresh PREFERRING that sound increases each year).
On other hand, fact that about 10% of students are spending $150-300 for Beats means that young people are willing to pay more for headphones which produce good sound. We can all quibble with whether Beats are best choice for that price, but I see this group as future buyers of Grado, Senn, Denon, etc. Marketing pays, and Beats and Skullcandy are the headphone brands that market today.
