Apple's overpriced earphones are fine out of the box, but their life is limited and it's a gradual decline in quality as the thing slowly breaks apart over, say, the six months they survive before being unusable.
The pair that finally got binned this week would auto-skip songs, pause at random moments, and force the volume down to zero. Pure torture when going for a run. I'd get into a track, and then BAM, song skips. One of the few pros about Apple headphones is that the bastards stay in when you're exercising.
I have some Sennheiser MX760's I scored off Catch of the Day. Sound quality is fine, but the fuckers just don't stay in and are pointless for taking to the gym. I saw some adidas-branded ones designed for jogging, but the fucking things cost $100 - the extra coinage no doubt going into the strap and not the electronics.
At home I wear a big fuckoff pair of Senheiser cans when cleaning the house and listening to the Bombcast.
If someone can guide me to a good set of buds that will stay in my ear whilst running, that'd be superb.