iFrogz Audiowrapz: protection and sound in one
(Credit:
iFrogz)
Why buy a protective skin and a set of speakers for your iPod Nano when the iFrogz Audiowrapz lets you kill two birds with one stone? Well, for one, a separate set of speakers would probably sound much better, but that's beside the point: The Audiowrapz protects your player while offering the added bonus of three external speakers in one very compact package. No denying it's a little gimmicky, but also kinda cool. The case itself adds some length to the third-gen Nano, but isn't bad looking. In fact, I think the overall look is randomly stylish, and it comes in your choice of eight colors--always a good thing. The speakers themselves are passive, so they don't draw any power from the iPod (or anywhere else, for that matter). If you just want to utilize the case without sharing your music with the world, simply plug in the headphones and the speakers are deactivated. Each Audiowrapz costs $24.99.
For more than five years, Jasmine France has covered a variety of tech products for CNET--from scanners to keyboards to GPS devices--but she's happiest where she is now: sitting atop a pile of MP3 players, "testing" every music service known to man, and jamming a variety of earbuds in every shape and color into her absurdly small ears. E-mail Jasmine. 
Aren't they, by definition, active. Even in a regular hi-fi speaker withi "passive"
radiators there has to be at least one other speaker that is "active" in order to
have something from which to radiate. The ifrogz site does indeed claim that
this device uses no power from the iPod to make sound and that the unit "uses
passive technology." Sounds like room temperature fusion to me.