iVault aluminum case for iPod shuffle
posted March 31st 2005 2:00AM
So the dude who made the DIY aluminum case for the
iPod shuffle did end up teaming up with Griffin Technology to mass produce his creation. They're calling it the iVault
and billing it as "maximum protection in an elegant design." It will completely enclose the player other than providing
access to all the iPod shuffle controls. It will come in
four colors (silver, blue, red and purple) and apparently, you "won't want to put it down." This could get awkward. All
well and good, but $29.99? Is the thing that fragile, really? We suppose it will prevent the shuffle from being chomped
by marauding dogs, so maybe it's worth shelling out 20-33% of the price of the player for a case if you're prone to
these sorts of attacks.
[Thanks, Black Pod]
It looks like a stick of gum, and now it's wrapped in aluminum. Great.
hey should probably add space to keep a couple of sticks of gum in it...
thats the best shuffle case i have seen so far. i hated how Apple put the lanyard on the *cheap* part of the unit. i couldn't care less if i lost the cap if it separated... but you'd loose the actualy unit and be left with a rope and a dangling cap around your neck!
now i don't actually see a lanyard hole on this... but since it covers the entire unit and even gets rid of the cap entirely (awesome) ... i imagine it is considerably more secured than the stock unsheathed unit.
$30 might be a bit steep. $20 seems more 'right'.
A very nice idea but it doesn't even have a clip on the back. You still have this mini brick with no place to put it but your pocket and hope that the headphone cable is long enough. Put a cell phone like clip on the back and then we'll talk.
They should integrate this design with a cigarette lighter. That would really "light things up"...
I'll just use some green flourescent duct tape. Oh wait, I dont own a shuffle - forget it.
I must say, I stick my shuffle in my shirt pocket sometimes, and a couple times when bending over it has fallen out and hit the ground hard.
I've dropped it a few times on hard surfaces, and it hasn't scratched, chipped, or anything. The only thing I would have a minor concern about was whether I was jarring any "inside guts" loose, but this case wouldn't help anyway...
I guess I just don't see a market for shuffle cases, unless you are looking for attractiveness only...
Now a waterproof case with waterproof earplugs... that's an idea...
Style is definitely the selling point over protection. That said, if the shuffle was resiliant before, it's now probably almost indestructible. If only there wasn't a hole in the bottom exposing USB connector.
Not so much ass-kicking, really. When in this case you can't just plug it into your computer, you have to use a cable. So you'll have to carry a cable with you. Also, you can't use the lanyard end-cap and it provides no alternative to it. Definitely *looks* cool, but it takes away a substantial amount of the cool design of the device it's encasing. Ding! Try again!
This is pretty sweet, I must say. But I agree with what an earlier poster said, needs a clip, then we can talk about $29.99
Theres a better case that offers keychain hole and has better protection overall... www.exopod.net