earbuds are making my ears red, scaly and itchy

I must be listening to my iPod too many hours a day, although I have used an iPod for years now. Lately, I am getting red, scaly and itchiness inside my ears. I mostly use the earbuds that came with the iPod and they have the foam coverings. I even tried buying new covers thinking maybe I had over-used one set, but that doesn't help. I have to just not use the earbuds for days to get my ears to go back to normal. I can plug my iPod into external speakers when I am home, but I like being able to listen to my iPod while out walking or at work. Has anyone else had this problem?

5th generation iPod Mac OS X (10.4.9)