iLounge

Company: Tatuz International

Website: www.Shuffletatu.com

Model: Tatuz

Price: $2.49-3.49

Compatible: iPod shuffle

Tatuz International Tatuz for iPod shuffle

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By Jeremy Horwitz

Editor-in-Chief, iLounge
Published: Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Category: Stickers, Guards and Film - iPod

Pros: An already good variety of iPod shuffle stickers that offer a good variety of decorative colors and patterns to choose from. Inexpensive, well made, and non-gooey adhesive.

Cons: Only cover the face of your iPod shuffle, and are neither protective nor marketed as such.

If - and this is a big if - you only want to adorn the front of your iPod shuffle, Tatuz International’s new Tatuz ($2.49-$3.49) are a very interesting option. The company’s taken a different approach from all of its iPod shuffle sticker competitors, making no effort whatsoever to cover the back body surface of the small iPod.

Instead, it’s offering three stickers - one for the shuffle’s front body, one for the front of its standard USB cap, and one for the front and back of the lanyard cap. Consequently, the face of your shuffle looks covered, but the back generally doesn’t, except for a Tatuz URL on the rear of the lanyard cap.

However, the Tatuz’ cheap price and interesting patterns almost make this a worthwhile proposition: Tatuz International is offering various collections of stickers called GIlda Designs, Solid Colors, Stripes, Flags of the World, and iTatu by Digital Assault. Some of the stickers - such as a floral pattern on white background - look entirely normal without side or rear coloration, and even the ones that don’t are pretty attractive as face-only designs.

Better yet, the stickers are gloss-laminated, nicely cut to the shuffle’s curves, fairly easy to properly align, and easy enough to remove and re-attach if you screw up or want to re-use them. They don’t use gooey adhesive, and leave no residue when pulled off the shuffle’s body.

The Tatuz offer an interesting comparison with Mobile Juice’s Shuffle Art (iLounge rating: B-). We liked Shuffle Art’s texture and didn’t mind its price, but didn’t like the patterns Mobile Juice was offering, and felt that it was somewhat misrepresented as protective. Tatuz are around a third the price and already have a significantly better collection of available patterns, but are only half as “protective.” Thankfully, Tatuz International was wise enough not to claim that these are protective accessories, so we feel comfortable agreeing that they are there to offer “personality for your iPod shuffle,” nothing more.

In a perfect world, the Tatuz would cover more of an iPod shuffle’s body and cost only a little more than their current price. But for $2.49 to $3.49 a piece (and five for $10 if you find a collection you like), their patterns make them easy to like as attractive, simple decorations. They also integrate wonderfully with Apple’s official iPod shuffle Sport Case to create a more customized look. While they’re not perfect, we don’t hesitate to recommend the Tatuz for their reasonable price, especially given the variety of their designs.