Saturday, August 19, 2006

Mmmm... iPoDonut

No, not a quote from a simpson's episode, but rather a cool non-invasive iPod accessory by Japanese iPoDonut company.

When I got my iPod, like many others, I got to thinking there were some things I would need. The first thing was a case. I figured I would hate to break a $300+ item in a fit of stupidity, and figured a case would help with that. In searching for such, I came accross other ways of protecting your iPod without adding to the thickness of it, one of them being the iPoDonut.

Most cases out there will protect the iPod pretty well, but forget the click wheel. This is where iPoDonut comes in. It protects the clickwheel from scratching and hand grease where some cases will not. Even nowadays when the number of cases that protect the click wheel are increasing, the iPoDonut with its glow-in-the-dark finish (and sillicon glue so that it does not leave a residue on the precious iPod comes in quite handy. If you ever fall asleep listening to the iPod, you don't have to turn on the lights to figure out where it is and move it away from that snoring heavy set husband sleeping next to you endagring the precious gadget or even just to find it in a dark foreign hotel room. And now when I fly, I don't have to roam through my whole bag to find out where I stuck my iPod anymore, I can just look for the green glow.

Actually, recently I received one of these guys for the iPod video (also available for the iPod nano) for review. I will have to say that the glow-in-the-dark finish which makes the sticky look almost white is a good improvement on the gray click-wheel look of the naked ipod. It also does not add any bulk to it which is good. It was pretty easy to stick the iPoDonut on the iPod. It does certainly change the feel of the click wheel however as it the material is less slick and more, I want to say porous. This is good, if like so many others you find it hard to figure out whether you are moving in circles over the clickwheel or some other part of the iPod. I have a screen protector with click wheel protector and so I stuck the iPoDonut on the clickwheel directly (I like that glue better anyway) and then put the click wheel screen protector on top to make it feel slick.

I do not know how that arrangement affects the iPoDonut's glowing ability however, because like I said I do not like the idea of having a $300+ item at the mercy of my hands with no cushion around it. So I came upon a blog where this guy who owns the same case I own uses an iPoDonut on top of the case because he likes the ability to find the iPod in the dark, but like me is afraid to drop the thing and have it shatter in pieces. I tried this out. As far as functionality this is great. I, however, have a blue case, which is not so hot with a white sticky on top. It is not bad at night when it glows (let me suggest to the iPoDonut guys to research blue hue glow-in-the-dark--and I believe iSkin blue glowing cases), but in the day it looks somewhat bad. I am getting used to the white circle.

In general, I think there is plenty of utility to have some part of your iPod glow without having to touch it as it allows you to find it without knowing where it is. I do not love the setup I have right now with the donut on top of my case, although it would be awesome if I had gotten the arctic white case rather than the blue one. The glue is also somewhat weak on the case's sillicon. However, since the donuts were not made to go on top of a case and it actually looks pretty good on the naked iPod, I will have to say this is a fun item (a little pricey for a sticker @$6.95 which includes shipping) that brungs back many good childhood memories and will give it a thumbs up. If you go for it, let me suggest you forgo the simple style one as it is just white (displayed bellow) and somewhat boring, spice it up with their designs from nuclear to bricks!

Here is a picture from their website (really accurate). I am having trouble uploading my own pictures to blogger, but will post my ugly guy on here when the problem goes away.

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