For your old-school listening pleasure.

Back in the olden days, before there was iPod, and even before Sony made music collections portable with the Walkman, the kids were known to enjoy music on the go with the help of a transistor radio. Larger than a shirt pocket, but small enough to carry around, they were especially popular in the middle decades of the 20th century and produced a distinctive kind of sound—thin and tinny, with a narrow frequency response and a tendency to distort at high volume. The effect was anti-high fidelity…but it was portable.

iFrogs shows the way back to the future with its Audiowrapz case for the third-gen iPod nano. It’s a rugged silicone rubber enclosure with built-in speaker for listening to your iPod without headphones. It’s a cool idea, though the sound delivered by the tiny iPod-powered 12mm speaker is decidedly retro. As a protective case for your iPod, it’s a solid product, featuring a headphone jack that allows you to bypass the external speaker. Enjoying it for its intended use, however, forces you to strike an old-school pose with your iPod held up to one ear.

Audiowrapz Treadz is a cool-looking protective case for your third-generation nano, but the external speaker has little actual utility.

COMPANY: iFrogz
CONTACT: ifrogz.com
PRICE: $24.99
REQUIREMENTS: Third-gen iPod nano
Effective protection for your iPod. Pass-through headphone jack.
External speakers virtually useless. Must remove iPod to charge it.