I see you fall into the same category as my wife in that the included iPod earphones just don’t fit in her ears, plus you ponied up for some very expensive custom earphones — yeah that would be annoying to not have them work with the new iPod shuffle.

I really don’t know what Apple can do at this point except make that rumored adapter cable or the ear buds cheaper. Say $10 — $20.

Apple’s earbuds are absolutely useless to me. I have no idea if they sound good or not, because they don’t stay in place long enough for me to find out. And that’s when I’m standing still. When I walk, they fall out almost immediately.

More importantly, even if that weren’t the case, they wouldn’t fit or sound nearly as good as the $750 custom-molded Sensaphonics earphones that I use every day with my iPod.

All morning, I heard people making the argument that third parties were sure to make other earbuds that would have controls that were compatible sooner or later, so it was no big deal. But what about those of us who already HAVE the perfect earphones and don’t want to trade them for something inferior just to be able to pause and change volume?

Word on the street is that Apple will make an adapter cable that will include the controls, but that will cost extra, of course. Moreover, it will be a kludgy hack for a problem that doesn’t need to exist. Didn’t Apple learn anything from the original iPhone’s unorthodox headphone port?

Here’s a really bonehead simple idea: Take the three buttons on the headphone cord and PUT THEM ON THE SHUFFLE ITSELF. Problem solved.