Ipod volume and earbuds trouble?

Today my ipod nano was working fine until about two hours ago when i plugged the ear buds in after having it on my speaker/charger for about an hour.
When the ear buds are in, and the volume is up louder than halfway on the volume bar the sound still comes through the speaker (i have the iPod nano with the little speaker on/in it, but i never use this cause the quality is horrible) . When the volume is turned all the way down it is still loud enough to hear from the ear buds even at arm’s length, but it isn’t coming through the speaker anymore. The sound still sounds like it is coming from the speaker though, despite it coming from the ear buds.
I have tried unplugging and replugging the ear buds, as this has worked many times before when i had this problem, but it isn’t working.
The iPod is a year and a half old and i have never had this problem with these ear buds before.
Any ideas on how to fix this? Or is it just time for a new iPod?