I use a pair of Shure 210 earbuds for listening to my iPod, watching movies on my ThinkPad. Bought them for way too much money a couple summers ago from a kiosk in the US Air terminal at LaGuardia. They have done good service, but one of the channels was shorting out and it was a pain in the ass to keep fiddling with the cable to get true stereo.
I just stopped at a similar kiosk in the new American Airlines terminal at Raleigh Airport. I asked the guy if he carried spare cables. Of course not. But he did have a combo phone/music adapter — basically a microphone with that sits between the ear buds and the device. I am on a call now with the rig and the clarity is the best I have ever had on ANY call, including a land line. Not sure how I sound when I talk, there’s a weird lack of feedback through the buds and the problem with having both ears filled is I feel disconnected from the ambient noise around me (approaching attackers, gate announcements, etc.).
Still, good solution that kills two birds with one store. I get a good phone headset alternative to my flaky Jawbone bluetooth model and I get a fix to my short circuiting issue for DVD and music use. A good $48.
