I had an ear bud Motorola S9 which seemed to work well but it would always cut out when turning my head a certain way, even if my player (a Palm Treo 680) was in my shirt pocket. And the sound was on the tinny side. The battery life on the Motorola also left much to be desired.The Sony DRBT50 beats the Motorola S9 ON ALL COUNTS, mentioned above. The audio cut outs are more than 90% reduced in frequency and duration. The sound is of the high quality headphone, instead of earplug headset, experience. The battery life is better by many fold. In fact I have not been able to drain the battery yet. I use the Sony for my commute (no not driving a car!) I take the train and bus public transport systems.Finally, the Sony DRBT50 is just so much more comfortable to wear even after a couple of hours.The only real drawback is "Headset Hair" but it's worth it to have my tunes.