I just did a google search for "best earbuds" to see if i could find any recent articles doing comparisons, but kept finding lists of in-ears being referred to as "earbuds".
 
Why?
 
Here's an example : http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CDUQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Freviews.cnet.com%2Fbest-earbuds%2F&ei=5GMnUeL9EMudmQWl-ID4Aw&usg=AFQjCNFQr3J9imzONOQpTWIDaF4TMW2hag&bvm=bv.42768644,d.dGY
 
I would expect a CNET editor to know better....

Because that's what they are? lol. I think buds are the ones like the apple phones that don't go into the ears.
IEM/CIEM stand for In Ear Monitor and Custom In Ear Monitor, respectively. They go inside of your ears. Customs are fitted specifically for your ears through ear impressions from some place like an audiologist. 
^guess that's how all of the people call them in-ears

But the point is...IEMs are IEMs, not earbuds....

Quote:

question2 said:

But the point is...IEMs are IEMs, not earbuds....

Click to expand...

guess there're many more IEMs than ear buds?
I don't know of any buds that are higher end though. Mostly just see IEMs, so I guess that's the reason. 

Well you do have the venerable Yuin pk series which is I think more along the lines of earbuds/earphones rather than IEMs, but yeah I stopped listening to Cnet a long time ago. Pity really because they used to be quite good as a source of reviews and tech gear info not even that long ago... :-/