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Comprehensiveness has its price: more details demand more reading. So today, we’re closing out our Complete Guide to Earphones with this, a highly simplified summary page that will help you make a smart choice, faster. If you want more details, you’ll find them in the prior parts of this Guide:

Part 1: Why Are Earphones Important, and What Types Are Out There?
Part 2: General Pointers and Big-Picture Advice on Earphone Selection
Part 3: Key Factors in Smart Earphone Selection
Part 4: iLounge Editors’ Top Earphone Picks & Pointers

Our first summary is a Cheat Sheet, designed to help you quickly consider the key price brackets and factors worth knowing before you make an earphone purchase. We’ve highlighted good details in green, and bad ones in red. Additional details on each of the factors can be found in Part 3, with extra guidance in Part 2.

This next part is a blank form that you can print and fill out on your own to help you figure out what type of earphones best meet your needs. You can print it once just to help narrow your search, or use multiple blanks to evaluate different options you’re considering. We’ve included notes at the bottom to help you - don’t forget to rank Price, Sound, Comfort, Looks, and Durability based on your personal preferences before starting your research.

As always, iLounge’s editors have offered our own picks in numerous reviews, our 2007 iPod Buyers’ Guide, available as a free download here, and in Part 4 of this Complete Guide to Earphones. We hope that you find this information useful and informative when making new earphone purchases!

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Next: Ask iLounge 3-16-07

Previous: The Complete Guide to Earphones, Part 4: Our Picks, and Yours

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