Almost every electronic device has a case. From cell phones to digital cameras to portable gaming systems, cases not only protect these gadgets, they ensure that every component stays together. With cases, cables stay put and memory cards are not lost along the way; headphones are not separated or broken, and batteries, games and even instruction manuals never slip where they cannot be seen. However, many of these cases are bulky; rarely is any socialite seen walking around with his or her cell phone slipped into a belt buckle carrying case. While older women or construction workers might not see the absurdity in this design, others do. Cases are, for the most part, the opposite of delicate, and in a world where electronic manufacturers are marching ever so quickly toward the smallest, the coolest, the thinnest and the sleekest, many users will go without the protection of a case to maintain the look and presence of their devices. Yet the iPod case is a different story. In this shallow world of universal concern for everyone else’s appearance, rarely is any iPod user ever seen without a case. While the case does, once again, protect a multi-hundred dollar investment, the iPod case is sleek, it is cool, and in many ways, it allows the user to express his or her beliefs, personality and desires in a way the iPod itself cannot.
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