On an impulse I bought myself an iPod Nano, second generation. I couldn't resist temptation and grabbed one when I went to visit my friend in a nearby town. I've been playing with it and its perfect for what I want it for, playing music while cycling.

I found the stock earbuds that come with the unit to be utter crap. I love to listen to funky bass heavy tunes while I cycle and the bass was horribly distorted on those otherwise tinny little headphones. The top end was screeching and hurting my ears while the bass just sounded flatulant. So after reading a load of forum posts and reviews I decided to buy some Sennheiser CX300's in white.

I've been listening to them this evening the the difference is staggering. Once you plug them far enough into your ears (they are ear canal headphones) you get tremendous bass and wonderful mids and highs. They are well worth the £30, especially if you value your hearing. Those iPod headphones are scary.

The only problem with ear canal type headphones is that while cycling they might well be dangerous what with cutting out most of the background noise (cars). I'll give them a test ride and see what happens. At least my imminent plane journey to Australia (about 29 hours) should be more enjoyable.