Personally I like earbuds, specifically the canal-phone type, for long-term comfort and good sound quality on the cheap. Most will block out a fair amount of sound as well. Currently I've got a Sony pair for my desktop, and a pair of Skullcandy Ink'd for my MP3 player and netbook. The Sony are overpriced and started falling apart way too soon. The Skullcandy sound nearly as good, cost half as much, and are holding up much better.