The iPod has revolutionized the way we listen to music. But there's one thing Steve Jobs and his buddies at Apple have never got right - and that's the earphones. They're rubbish and should be replaced immediately.

What you replace them with is a matter for further debate but one possibility you may not have considered is designing your own earphones. The people at iFrogz offer you that possibility at a credit-crunch friendly price.

We custom designed a pair of their Nerve Pipes. Upon delivery, we were immediately sceptical of the quality - our deliberately lurid gold sidearms had a plasticky appearance. But after fiddling with them for a while (they fold conveniently down to large pocket size) we were beginning to feel more optimistic. And then when we tested the sound quality, we were sold. They're not noise-cancelling (the Nerve Pipes are only $29.99) but the clarity of the sound is superb.

Get past the plasticky appearance (probably by not choosing metallic-colored elements) and you'll be left with an individualized and improved way to listen to your music.

Go to iFrogz for more information and to order.