Earphones

If they're dying that quickly on you it might just be you're mistreating them. My cheap Sony earbuds lasted me at least two years before I started having that problem, as did the even cheaper Radio Shack pair I had prior to them.

Do you tug on the jack or bend it frequently? Usually the soldered spot falls off there and you're left with sound only coming out of one side.

Also, you should check your warranty info for the set that just broke. Usually they give you one year or so.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

You just have to be sure never to put tension in the wire. I tended to wrap my earphones around my iPod after using them, leaving a bit of slack at the beginning of the wire so it wouldn't pull the soldered connection apart.

And I used mine just about every day, usually walking to/from school, while in between classes at school, and whenever I decided to do homework in a computer cluster while at school.

There's nowhere I can't reach.