Radios, MP3 Players and other devices should have both Stereo and Mono Functions

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Way back in the dark ages of recorded music, there was a thing called Monaural recording or "mono". This was basically all the sound packed together in one channel. One speaker sounded the same as all the speakers. Then came stereophonic sound. Stereo was and is superior to mono in every way. Music is recorded in several channels so the sound can be divided up between the speakers, making a more full sound, and allowing for some great effects in music. Stereophonic sound was as big a revolution in enjoying recorded music then as MP3 players are today. But there was a switch allowing people to choose between stereo and mono. Somewhere along the way, engineers who design these devices decided we didn't need to make the choice anymore. I think they need to bring that choice back, especially with MP3 players and other deviced primarily used with earphones. Have you ever been in a situation where you only wanted one earpiece in? Situations where you want to hear your music, but also what is going on around you? The problem with doing that with modern devices is, you only hear one channel of the music. This makes most modern songs sound awful because you don't hear some of the lyrics, solos or even entire parts of the songs. If they designed the devices with both choices, you could stitch to Mono and hear the whole song through one earpiece.