Here’s a product that pulls double duty for Apple products: it’s a hard case that fully encloses your valuable electronic device that also flips open to serve as a stand so you can watch movies on your iPod nano, iPhone or iPod touch. I sampled the idox for the 4G nano and found that my iPod slides securely into the case. I like that the case snaps closed to keep it safe when I toss the iPod in my carry-on bag. (You do need to store earphones separately, otherwise they just hang loose if they’re plugged in while it’s in the case.)

As a stand, the angle is great for watching movies, say, when it’s perched on the tray table on an airplane; a rubber bottom helps it stay in place — even during mild turbulence. Not that I used the idox on my recent plane flight to Nevada: I don’t have any movies stored on mine. But my 7-year-old (who has now decided the idox belongs to him) has used the stand to watch the lone video on his playlist — Michael Jackson’s Thriller – over and over and over again. (Usually at the kitchen table before he needs to do his daily after-school math worksheets.)

At $24.95, the idox case for the iPod nano definitely isn’t the cheapest on the market. But it is sturdy and functional. And if you typically download new movies to watch while you travel, whether it’s on an iPod nano, iPod touch ($34.95) or iPhone ($34.95), you might get more use out of it than I have.

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X-mini portable speakers