I have had trouble with cheap generic cables that offer poor audio/video quality and low reliability. So I now generally go for well known branded cables from the likes of Belkin, QED, Grado and now Shure (albeit mostly from their mid-priced offerings rather than premium range). These often don't cost that much more either. I wanted an extension lead for my gaming PC's Creative X-Fi card and for occasional use with my iPod Classic or TV, so I ordered this Shure extension lead from Hand Held Audio Ltd for around a tenner [its Shure recommended retail price, product EAC3BK], and it arrived promptly. I am a bit wary of ordering branded small headphones and cables via Amazon resellers and prefer direct from Amazon, as pirate copies are often worse than cheap generic versions, but this definitely looks and feels like the genuine Shure article. It came in a double sealed plastic bag affair with a Shure label on it rather than a massive blister pack.
It's a standard fairly short 3.5mm mini-jack headphone extension cable, 3 feet (91cm) long as described, obviously with stray field shielding around the cables, as you can feel it when straightening the cable, so the cable is slightly rigid in use rather than thin and super floppy - so I doubt the cable likes being tightly folded. The plug/socket seems well manufactured and usefully quite tiddly [some headphone plug/sockets on cables can be very out-sized, looking awfull]. Being very black, the cable/plugs look better with black accessories, although my white iPod is in a very dark blue case anyway. There is an alternative 91cm grey version [EAC3GR]. The socket connection is quite stiff, so the headphone plug goes in very positively.
There seems to be no adverse effect on sound quality when using the lead, which I have noticed when using some extension cables or in-cable remotes [with cable thickness and gold plating on plugs not being any indicator of actual signal quality]. The Shure plug/socket is a standard three contact stereo audio one and so it doesn't work with an in-cable iPod remote/microphone placed upstream, as that needs four contacts. But otherwise this Shure extension cable seems a good product with quality construction and decent audio properties, and well worth the slight premium. So 5* at the price I paid. I've had it in regular use for over 6 months, and so far no problems. I've now bought a second Shure cable from resellers 'Advanced MP3 Players' to use as an extention lead on a PC microphone. My Shure leads both sit flat on the desktop largely undisturbed, so I can't comment on their suitability for commuting.