Speck Products, the iPod skin experts that can add arms, feet, and a butt or ears, whiskers, and a tail to your iPod, is at it again with its new line-up of iPod nano cases that include two "fun skins." Cloud (review pending) dresses your iPod nano up like the Michelin man, while Grass features hundreds of raised nipples in green or black.

Speck FunSkins for iPod nano

Different? Definitely. Practical? We'll leave that up to you to decide.

Protecting your iPod from dings and scratches is a must but doing so often detracts from Apple's eye catching design. Sheathing your iPod nano in Speck's Grass skin will restore those turned heads and glances from most everyone who sees you pull out your nano, if that sort of thing is important to you. We were skeptical of how well the Grass skin would be received initially, but everyone who saw it reacted positively, similar to Speck's iGuy (4 stars, August 2005).

FunSkins and other Speck offerings

Grass is more practical than iGuy (also available in a nano version), however, as it's only marginally bigger than ordinary skins and feels pretty good in your hand. Sliding your iPod nano in and out of the skin is a cinch. In fact, Grass is the easiest experience we have had to date with silicone skins, which often require a bit of bending and stretching of the tactile surface to fit your iPod neatly.

All of Speck's new iPod nano skins include removable screen protectors. While the clear plastic distorts the nano's crystal-clear screen ever so slightly, the screen protector is an improvement over past designers as it features a rubber edge along the bottom that helps prevent it from moving and keeps the plastic from actually rubbing against the nano's screen. Also included is a belt clip that attaches to the removable plastic ring on the back of the Grass skin.

Fun often comes with a price, and in the case of Speck's two FunSkins that's a slightly steep $34.95 a piece. But being different often comes with a premium, as Apple users have only been too aware of for the better part of a quarter century.

FunSkin Grass detail