Support Our Site
Get Better Gear!
- Notability For iPad: Much More Than A Note Taking App from Ginger Labs, Inc, US$0.99
- Scosche’s RH656m Headphones With Microphone Are Wonderful from Scosche, US$129.99
- IPEVO’s Typi Folio Case & Keyboard for iPad is First-rate from IPEVO, US$79.99
- Scosche’s boomSTREAM BT Speaker: Features & Compromises from Scosche, US$99.95
- FX Photo Studio HD: iPad Painting of Effects Made Easy from MacPhun LLC, US1.99
Top 5 Free Apps
iTunes New Music Releases
Top 5 Paid Apps
Discover New Music
- Led Zeppelin
- This album bears every flavor of genius from the five records that came before. It is, I believe, the band's finest. With Physical Graffiti, Zep came raging back to their musical home territory -- har
- David Bowie
- It must be a lonely place to be considered David Bowie's worst album by just about everyone, including the artist himself. As the last album before Bowie "rebooted" and formed the band Tin Machine, "N
- The Damned
- Punk rock is mostly associated with three chords and a bad attitude, but the Damned were one of the few bands of the era bent on bringing musicianship and a good sense of humor to the scene. And while
- Rush
- We all know it, right? Well, ya just gotta have it. 2112 finally showed Rush out on their own, doing their own thing, and doing it well, IMHO.
- Fantomas
Mike Patton may well be one of the hardest working men in showbiz these days, and his latest with Fantômas underscores just about how far out he is willing to travel.
Suspended Animation
Reader Specials
Visit Deals On The Web for the best deals on all consumer electronics, iPods, and more!
In-Depth Review
Metal iPod Protection for iPod shuffle
Monday, August 22nd, 2005 at 8:10 AM - by Misha Sakellaropoulo
Speck Products' new Metal iPod Protection (Metal) promises "maximum" protection for your iPod shuffle. The claim probably isn't far off the mark, as the Metal case shield yours shuffle with about 2mm of polished aluminum, but the fit and finish needs more attention.
Metal employs a two-piece design connected with two small phillips screws to protect the body of your iPod shuffle. This part of the case is well done: the machining of the aluminum is fantastic with tight tolerances all around. Speck even includes a mini screwdriver to save you the trouble of finding your own.
It's Metal's cap leaves much to be desired, however. Unlike Apple's iPod shuffle caps that feature tensioned roller-balls to give you that secure feel and pleasant snap, the Metal simply uses two round metal notches to clip itself to the iPod shuffle's USB connector. The result is a slightly loose fitting cap that's a little more eager to remove itself than I'd like. It's unfortunate that the body's bullet-proof design is coupled with a cap that wiggles so easily.
The Metal case also features one glaring shortfall that Speck doesn't warn you about: dressed in Metal, the iPod shuffle's headphone connector becomes recessed by about 4mm. Coupled with the original headphones or other straight-jack designs this isn't a problem, but the design totally keeps L-shaped mini jacks out of the running (or other accessories, like Bluetooth and FM transmitters that have a jack designed to leave the body flush with the device its connected to).
The Metal's polished aluminum looks super posh, but suffers the same shortcomings as the backs of full-sized iPods, meaning it's a thumbprint magnet and quite susceptible to scratching. There's a touch of irony in shielding your iPod shuffle in a polished aluminum case when plenty of people invest in cases for full-size iPods partly to preserve the shiny aluminum back.
Speck's Metal iPod Protection for iPod shuffle
Just The Facts
Pros:Well-constructed body, still allows iPod shuffle to plug into USB ports
Cons:Cap is loose fitting and needs improvement, design is incompatible with L-shaped mini jacks
Recent Headlines
- Reading, Writing, & Saving the World
- Free Retro Gaming for iOS - Activision’s Kaboom!
- Apple Adds Chomp Bits to iOS 6 App Store Discovery
- Notability For iPad: Much More Than A Note Taking App
- Scosche’s RH656m Headphones With Microphone Are Wonderful
- Tim Cook & Larry Page Reportedly Discuss Patents
- Analysis: Amazon Kindle Fire Sold Out, Kindle Fire 2 Pic Leaked
Post Your Comments