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Developer: Griffin Technology

Minimum Requirements: Any audio device with 1/8" stereo mini jack

Retail Price: $29.99

Availability: Out now

I've owned four iPods now (membership has its privileges), and I've yet to use the included earbud headphones for more than five cumulative minutes. I hate those things. I hate them as much I hated Apple's one button mouse. The sound is sub-par, they don't stay in my ears, and...well, isn't that enough?

I don't mind spending money on a different pair of headphones, though. Remember that period when Macs didn't ship with a keyboard or a mouse? I didn't mind that, either, because I could then justify spending money on a keyboard I wanted, not one that I was forced to use. I certainly don't recommend Apple returns to those days, and I'm not suggesting they should stop including headphones with their iPod. I'm merely stating that you shouldn't feel bad about spending a little more money on headphones that actually get decent sound and are comfortable to wear.

Griffin's EarThumps, for example. $30 may seem like quite a bit to spend when added to the price of an iPod shuffle, but if you put that on top of a 5G iPod, it's not that big of a deal. Either way, if you enjoy having the ability to actually hear your music, the cost is worth it.

EarThumps are so named, I'm guessing, because of the deep bass they deliver. Deep bass. When I first tried these out, I was amazed at the amount of bass I was hearing, especially when compared to my somewhat tinny Altec Lansing OYOYO YO302WHT headphones. My music suddenly had a completely different feel to it, and I loved it...until the next album started.

My iPod comprises many songs pulled from a diverse collection of sources: CDs, the iTunes Music Store, the Internet...even my old cassettes and LPs. A lot of my songs, therefore, aren't of the best audio quality. Because the EarThumps are so heavy on the bass, what sounded fairly clear on my OYOYO headphones sounded muffled and muddy on the EarThumps.

I'm not sure if this comes from the speakers or from their method of delivering sound into your year. Most headphones available for the iPod take a scattershot approach of delivering sound; the speakers rest against your ear, and the sound shoots out at random, bouncing any which direction. And because the headphones usually don't completely cover your ears, outside noises can work their way in and interfere with your listening experience. The EarThumps address all of this with foam cones, more or less, that fit inside your ears, not on top of them. This shoots all of the sound directly into your year, so you hear more of it and less of what's going on around you. Three sizes are included, and they're easy enough to put on and remove. Even if you don't switch sizes, you'll still need to remove them periodically for cleaning.

The EarThumps sit comfortably in your ear canal, and I never had a problem with them falling out. This makes them great for jogging or exercising, but there is a slight danger. Because the pads funnel the sound directly into your ear and effectively block out most outside noises, you really are isolating yourself from your surroundings. When using them at the office, I could hear my phone ring, but I couldn't hear when a coworker was trying to say the call was for me. Using them at home, I could kind of hear the TV playing in the next room, but I couldn't hear my wife telling me to come in to watch something. As a result, you may have to turn your iPod's volume down lower than normal. You also won't want to wear them for too long. Although they're comfortable, I found that being closed off from external sounds for too long eventually got on my nerves.

Sound quality will vary depending upon what you're listening too. A lot of my rock music was too heavy on bass, often sounding muddy, although certain sounds I hadn't heard before were able to reach my ears thanks to the design of the EarThumps. Music that needed a good kick in the bass, however, sounded very good with the EarThumps. A lot of my classical music sounded somewhat tinny or hollow on my OYOYO headphones, but had a richer, fuller sound with the EarThumps. And again, thanks to the way the EarThumps get the music to your ears, I was able to distinguish parts played pianissimo that were lost to outside noises on other headphones.

If the EarThumps were any more expensive, I'd probably drop them another rating point. But at $30, they're a great value. They're much better than Apple's earbud headphones, and they're just as convenient. They can be easily packed in any case built to accommodate the earbuds, and they even come with a small, canvas case of their own. I've had better headphones connected to my iPod, but I haven't any that struck such a good balance between sound, cost and convenience.