I mean I really hate it. Now don’t get me wrong, I know that I have to do it once you reach that golden number of 40 for your health, but I really do hate going. You have no idea of what it is like getting up and trying to be in the gym by 5 am, 5:30 at the latest and getting going. I am racing toward my mid-40’s at warp speed and each morning the only other ones who are there besides me are the young college kids who are determined to look like Arnold someday and the staff members who have to man the gym at that god awful hour. So, of course, they are playing their music. And what do you suppose that I hear at the crack of dawn? Either some sort of Heavy Metal music that will turn your brain to pink mush or some Rap song that has so much bass I do not understand it at all or it makes the bar bells jump. Since I could not deal with either of those kinds of music that is the reason that I bought my 60GB iPod; what a blessing!

For those of you who do not know what an iPod is, basically it is the hottest electronic accessory going at the moment. It is a very small hard drive that Toshiba makes for Apple. Apple in turn has added a small program and a great interface to make it arguably the premier personal music player in the market today! At 60GB my little gem is only 3.5” Tall and 2” wide and less than .5” deep! With a great color screen and holds close to 15,000 songs! What a great toy! I was going to take it to the gym, with me on the plane and when I was working in the yard and any other time I could think of to use it!

But here is the funny part; I was afraid to take it to the gym! Good Grief! I was almost afraid to take it out of the house! When you spend close to $600 on a toy, you want to protect it! I looked at the plastic sleeves that they were selling and some of the other cases, but none offered the protection that I wanted or access to the controls that I wanted as well. Until I found this: The Contour Showcase for the iPod. At $32.95 it is more than reasonable, it is essential!

I have only found this case available online at Contour Design.com, but be sure to check e-Bay as well. I have found several that are offered at substantial savings as well! The new Showcase for the 4th generation iPod is the first case that I found that offers solid protection while letting me enjoy everything that I love about the iPod. The elegant design, slim dimensions, and ultimate portability. Contour Design has created a case with a clean, trim, seamless look that keeps the sleek lines of the iPod. The case feels like a natural extension of the iPod- providing a weightless, portable design that fits in your pocket or on your hip. The case feels and looks like a natural extension of the iPod itself. The Contour Showcase lets your touch sensitive controls remain easy accessible while protecting the body and the screen of the iPod. At the same time, it provides convenient access to connectors, headphone jack and hold switch. You need never remove the iPod from the case since you can hook up the sync and charge firewire cable through the case. The design allows you to open your Showcase like a book, making it super easy to remove your iPod from the case, but why would you want to? The clear faceplate and the clear back panel gives you a visual of the steel back and the information etched there as well as the screen, while preventing finger prints and scratches. The latch reminds me of the latch on a hermetically sealed jar or one you would find on a tool box. That gave me a deeper sense of security since I have seen cases that will fall apart at the slightest jar. The belt clip is fully removable and is mounted horizontally for maximum comfort. With the clip being removable, it is dressy enough that I have no shame in taking it to the office (after all I do want to show off the new toy!) and then putting the clip back on either for the gym or when I go out to walk the dog!

The case is made of hard, impact-resistant plastic and shock-absorbing rubber that will protect the iPod from even the clumsiest of us--trust me on this! I have dropped the case any number of times from fiddling with it on the Stairmaster to trying to get it into my gym bag and dropping it on the tile floor of the men’s locker room! And while the case is beginning to look a little dinged up and scratched up, I have to look at it this way -- if you're going to pay $250 and up for a new iPod, it's almost criminal not to pay another $33 for a suitable case that will protect it from dings, scratches and other motion-related mishaps. The case comes in two colors, Black or White, but I say keep the white case to keep the clean lines of the iPod!

Lets face it, people. Life happens and we all know that our technology is important to us, so we really have a responsibility to protect it! And with the Case from Contour Design, that is just one less item that I have to handle like a Faberge Egg!