Altec Lansing UHP106 Backbeat Series In Ear Headphone with Ulitmate Ears technology

I am very hard on earphones, and have given up buying expensive models from various manufacturers because they inevitably fail within a few weeks of use. While the elite vendors like Shure have excellent warranty and return policies, it's just not worth the hassle. After going through three (free) replacements of E3C's, I got tired of dealing with it. I still recommend Shure's for indoor use.
I run on the beach in the blazing sun in Florida, slathered in sunscreen and sweating like a horse. This wreaks havoc on vinyl wire sheathing, leading to cracks (in the case of Shure) and degradation to sticky mess (in the case of Sony).
On the other hand, really cheap IEMs like the Koss and SkullCandy just sound horrible, even for my relatively undemanding ears listening to podcasts and audiobooks.
I was delighted when I picked these up at Best Buy on a whim. They fit, have good sound and best of all, a cloth tangle-free cord. The cord is by far the best feature...Read more

I've had the spectrum of in ear headphones. I've had $100 Shure, and $12 Skullcandy. The shure were great, but a pain to keep in your ears. The Skullcandy were great but a pain to keep in your ears...The skullcandy lasted a few months and the shure would have lasted a long time if I hadn't left them on the plane in a seatback pocket. These sound good and seem to stay in my ears relatively well. One of the things I initially dismissed but I find helpful is the cloth covered cable - it really is tangle free. I use these for my Mp3 player while on the plane. I travel every week. They let me keep the volume at about half what I would need to put it on for regular style earbuds.

I have a major complaint about these earbuds is that the cloth cover cord make an amazing amount of noise every time I shift or move. When I am sitting stationary and listening to my iPod -- the sound quality is good. As advertised, the cloth cords are tangle-free.

I bought these because they were inexpensive. So, I don't feel that much of a loss. I recommend finding a set of earbuds with non-cloth cords.