iPods causing right earphone/earbud to fail?

MacFixIt reader Brett Taylor reports an issue where his first-generation iPod Shuffle has apparently caused failure of the right earphone in two sets of headphones -- including the bundled Apple earbuds.

Brett writes:

"The right earbud of my Phillips SHN2500 noise canceling phones died today on the bus. Yeah, so? Well, I bought these in December only after the right earbud of my Apple In-Ear Headphones died. The pattern: after a few months' usage with my first-gen 1GB Shuffle, the right bud gets quieter, with noticeable high-end rolloff, and then dies completely.  Does it kill the earbuds themselves? Yes. Plugging them into my computer or CD player shows that the right bud is indeed hosed."

This would seem to be a coincidental event were it not for multiple threads across a variety of discussion boards indicating the same issue: failure of the right earphone.

A poster to an Apple Discussions thread (#1) reports right earbud failure immediately after connecting the included headphones to his first-generation iPod nano. Another Apple Discussions thread (#2) discusses a similar issue with a second-generation iPod nano.

Meanwhile, a thread hosted by iLounge carries dozens of similar complaints associated with various iPod models.

This does not appear to be an issue of "blown" headphone speakers; most readers reporting the issue state that they do not use maximum volume settings on their iPods.

Also, as aforementioned, this issue does not appear to be restricted to Apple-shipped earbuds. Users have reported failure of the right headphone with third-party sets as well.

Finally, as stated by Brett, the problem (when it manifests) appears to permanently damage the right earphone i.e. it will not function properly with devices other than the iPod.

If you are experiencing a similar issue, please let us know.

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