For better or for worse, I tend buck the trends when it comes to consumer gadgets to try and be a little different from the rest of the crowd. When everybody was going with the Apple iPod, or Dell DJ or Creative Zens, I went with industry pioneer Rio and bought a Rio Carbon 5GB in Pearl. Since I try not to base my buying decisions solely on being different, I did come to love the enormous battery life (20 hours), driverless USB operation and tiny size.

That spate of happiness lasted until a four foot fall broke the jog dial on the side that controls volume. And then Rio’s owners decided to close down shop. Though after some careful surgery my Carbon remained functional, I was back in the market for an MP3 player.

So now I find myself a happy Apple iPod Nano owner. Can’t complain about the player – sound quality is terrific and the battery will last me long enough for my purposes. But what to do about that easily scratchable surface? My answer, after careful research at the iLounge Forums (previously known as the iPodLounge Forums) came in the form of the CoreCases Black Nano Case: “The ultimate screen protector for your iPod Nano. Two piece anodized aluminum case with built-in clear screen protector.” User reviews for the case are all around positive, and at $19.95 USD (+ $10 USD shipping to Canada via USPS) the price isn’t that bad either.

So if you’re looking for an iPod Nano case, give CoreCases products a glance. In fact, check out my own media folder Miscellaneous for proper pictures – the one the official site provides isn’t enough to base a decision upon.