Fruitshop Bone Nano2 Wrap

Your silicone case might protect your iPod from scratches and dings, but what has it done for you lately? That’s a question the people at Fruitshop have evidently asked themselves, since they’ve concocted the innovative Nano2 Wrap for the second-generation (2G) iPod nano.

Like other silicone cases, the Nano2 Wrap shrouds your iPod in a resilient rubberized skin that protects it from all sorts of casual damage. There’s an opening for the screen and one on the top for the hold switch. The bottom of the case, where you insert the nano, is left open so you can get at the dock-connector port and the headphone jack. On the front of the case, you’ll find markings for the Click Wheel controls and a raised set of concentric circles marking the center button, making it easy to work the nano — through the case — by touch alone.

But the back of the Nano2 Wrap is where its unique nature comes into play. Molded from the silicone is a wrap for your headphone cables, complete with niches for nestling Apple’s earbuds and the headphone plug. You can wrap your excess cord up while you’re listening to the nano, securing it in one of the six convenient hooks, or you can stow earbuds and cord completely when you want to toss your iPod into a bag. There’s also a hole at the bottom of the cable wrap, through which you can thread a lanyard (not included).

Since the niches for the earbuds are molded into the silicone, they fit only the standard iPod earbuds, or those of similar sizes (both the first- and second-generation Apple earbuds fit in my tests). The cable wrap will, of course, work fine for pretty much any wired headphones, although thinner cables work much better than thick ones.

The wrap does add some bulk to the otherwise slim silicone skin, but that’s a fair tradeoff for the functionality you get. My only real complaint is the relatively sparse screen protection. Fruitshop does include a thin, adhesive screen protector, but it’d be nice to see something a little more robust. Other than that, the Nano2 Wrap is a very slick option for those who hate cable clutter. –Dan Moren