iLounge

Company: iPodstreet

Website: www.iPodstreet.com

Model: Leather Case with Detachable Wrist Strap

Price: $30

Compatible: iPod 5G

iPodstreet iPod Leather Case with Detachable Wrist Strap (5G)

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By Jeremy Horwitz

Editor-in-Chief, iLounge
Published: Thursday, December 1, 2005
Category: Cases - iPod 5G (with Video)

Pros: A leather iPod case that covers most of the fifth-generation iPod’s body, available in seven colors. Includes a detachable wrist strap.

Cons: Cheap-looking leather, mis-cut control and bottom port holes, and no protection for iPod’s screen, controls, or bottom port. Price is too high for a case with this level of quality; looks like something you’d find at a mall cell phone kiosk.

Thankfully, most cases we receive for review these days make a pretty good first impression, and we feel no need to place them in our “okay” or “bad” rating categories. Though the company has released some good leather cases for the iPod nano, iPodstreet’s new iPod Leather Case with Detachable Wrist Strap ($30) for the fifth-generation iPod is one of the notable exceptions. Available in 30GB and 60GB sizes, as well as seven colors (black, white, pink, blue, purple, red, and yellow), Leather Case feels and looks cheaper than its price by a substantial margin - the sort of case you’d find at a cell phone mall kiosk.

Each case is made from an apparently low grade of textured leather, with holes cut out for the iPod’s screen, Click Wheel controls, and ports. The top headphone port looks small, but worked with our oversized headphones because of the leather’s thinness, and both the screen and top Hold switch hole are sized properly. Unfortunately, the Click Wheel and bottom Dock Connector holes are both off, such that the iPod’s controls sink lower than the Click Wheel hole, and the Dock Connector port is off to the case’s right size. It’s sloppy tailoring for a $20 case, let alone a $30 one.

The Leather Case closes on the back with two snaps, giving the iPod’s back full protection, but neither film nor hard protectors are included for the iPod’s controls or screen - they’re just exposed. iPodstreet’s included wrist strap is made from either matching leather or semi-matching leather (the texture was the same on the red case we tested, different on the black one), and attached or detached with a silver lobster claw clasp, which worked fine in our testing. It’s worth a brief note that the clasps on both of our review units were silver, despite what appeared to be a golden clasp on the red case on iPodstreet’s site photograph.

Other than its poor protectiveness for the iPod’s face, and its misalignment of two of its holes, our major issue with the Leather Case is its overall apparent level of quality. It’s in the bottom tier of iPod cases we’ve tested in overall looks, and not priced commensurately, either. We’d pass on this one unless it’s fixed up and otherwise improved a lot.