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We're not quite sure why we trust Timbuk2's iPod Carrying Case so much.

We own two of the $20 cases, which offer the same ballistic nylon and heavy sewing found in the company's bombproof messenger bags that we see zipping around San Francisco every day. And we wish the Carrying Case packed a bit more padding between the iPod and the world. Of course, in three months of banging 'em around from San Francisco to Baja, Mexico, we haven't had a problem with an iPod kept in its Carrying Case.

In the same timeframe we've killed at an iPod that was traveling naked inside a knapsack.

Ahhh, that's why we trust 'em so much: when we use 'em, our iPods don't die.

While Timbuk2 offers it in various colors, the iPod Carrying Case isn't particularly fashion forward, at least not unless your wardrobe favors nylon, GORE-TEX and fleece outdoor gear.

If you ask us, far too many of the iPod cases out on the market tend to favor style over protection; we want more than good taste protecting our iPod. We might have gone with a metal iPod case, but they tend to scratch up the coffee table when we set the bag down. There's also at least one incident involving an aluminum iPod case and the paint in the front hall we hope to never repeat.

The Case offers two basic ways of attaching it your gear, a heavy set of Velcro secured flaps designed to wrap around a bag strap along with a sewn in belt loop; your iPod can hang vertically or horizontally. At the front of the case is a small pocket big enough to hold a few credit cards or a pair of iPod earbuds. It's lined with the same soft stuff as the main iPod pocket in the case. The top of the case has a slit for your headphone jack that's wide enough to support the remote control plugs on older iPods. We should also point out that all the full size iPods fit nicely inside this case, held snug by the elastic side panels.

You're not going to want the iPod Carrying Case if you want to use your iPod's Scroll Wheel or Click Wheel without removing it from the case. You have to unplug the headphones and slide your 'Pod out of this case to access the controls. This will probably get tiresome if you favor picking and choosing songs over running playlists or shuffle mode.

That's the closest thing we have to a complaint about Timbuk2's iPod Carrying Case. It's our day in day out choice for keeping our fleet of iPods safe. Given the stupefying range of iPod cases out on the market, made from everything, it seems, from silk to titanium, that's saying something.

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