How an iSkin Saved My iPod

I recently decided to test the indestructibility of my 20GB 4th generation iPod. Well, maybe decided isn't quite the right word. Perhaps a better phrase would be accidentally, or holy crap, what a complete and utter idiot I am!"

You see, on a fateful Sunday in February, unpacking my car from a visit to the parents', arms loaded with kids toys, I placed my iPod on the roof of the car because I was afraid of dropping it. You can see where this is going. I promptly forgot about it.

My memory was jarred, however, three days later. As I was getting out of the car in a parking lot, I thought to myself "Hey, what's this white thing on the roof? Oh shit!" Yes, my treasured little iPod was still there. After 4 or 5 half-hour rides on the highway, after spending 2 days sitting in the parking lot at my wife's work, and a couple of trips to the grocery store, it was still there. The big question became: After sitting outside for a full day of February freezing rain, did it still work?

I cradled my precious in my arms as I carried its poor weathered body into the house. I murmured soft apologies. I pleaded for forgiveness. I tried to turn it on, but nothing happened.

When I bought my iPod, I looked at various leather and plastic cases. I finally settled on an iSkin eVo2, a form-fitting white glow-in-the-dark silicone-rubber case that fits snugly over the iPod, and yet still retains access to the buttons and connectors. About the only thing I can't do with the iSkin on is put the iPod into a dock. But I don't have a dock, so even that doesn't matter. In any case, the iSkin saved me. Oh, how it saved me.

There are two principal dangers in leaving an iPod on the roof of a car and then driving around for three days. Well, three, if you count the people pointing and yelling "Ha-ha". But that doesn't concern us at the moment. The biggest danger, one which any non-skinned iPod would succumb to in a matter of seconds, is the pavement. You see, iPods are smooth, and car roofs are smooth, and they don't tend to stick to each other particularly well. iSkins are not so smooth. They're rubbery. Not only does all kinds of dust, hair and pocket-lint stick to iSkins like they're made of honey, car roofs also stick to iSkins. I could have done a Transporter 2-style barrel roll, scraping a bomb off the bottom of my car, and the iPod would still be on the roof. In fact I did that twice, just to prove the point, and no, I'm not going to do it again just to show you.

The second danger is water. Leaving sensitive electronics exposed to rain, freezing or not, is generally a bad idea. The iSkin doesn't completely cover the iPod, so luckily the front face of an iPod is quite seamless. The LCD is pretty much sealed behind the plastic, and the navigation wheel has only the slightest seam. The iSkin also covers the docking port with a little flap. The only exposed part was the headphone jack, and that's the only part that looked like it had any moisture in it - just a drop slightly inside the jack. When I tipped it up, no water ran out, which is always a good sign.

I put the iPod down to rest and rejuvenate on top of an warm air vent in my office. At first I placed it in a sealed freezer bag so I could see if there was any condensation that came out - luckily nothing. After spending a day-and-a-half on the air vent, I plugged in the charger. Good news, the LCD came on and showed the charging symbol! I let it fully charge. Then I held my breath as I tried it out. Success! My iPod had come back from the edge of death! Thanks to an iSkin, I still have a working iPod.

Thank you, iSkin!

6/5/2006 : permalink
Only logged-in users can comment on this post. Login or Register now!