. But frankly, the sound quality of the Apple 'phones is not good enough for serious listening, in my opinion.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

You can say that again. If there ever was a guaranteed "throw-away" item, it is the ear-buds supplied with an iPod. I'll bet if we conducted a poll of iPod users who visit this forum we couldn't find two who listen to their iPods through those phones.