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Provides: Protection for iPod nano 3G/4G, music/video mixing/sharing
Developer: Psyclops, LLC
Minimum Requirements: iPod nano 3G/4G, Internet connection for music/video mixing, iTunes or e-mail for video sharing
Price: $14.95 iPod nano 3G protective case; $19.95 iPod nano 4G silicon sleeve
Availability: Now

When is an iPod case not an iPod case? When it has only one eye and loves to dance, I guess.

Psyclops starts as a case for your iPod nano 3G or 4G. The iPod 3G model comes in two varieties—Syndi and Ike—and will run you $14.99. The case is made of plastic, and actually adds quite a bit of bulk to the tiny nano. You slide your iPod in through the top, then connect the dock cable through the bottom. A felt-like band holds the iPod in place, but isn’t enough to secure it when you’re attaching the docking cable, so you must awkwardly stick your finger back through the top to stop it from sliding out.

The case is designed to look like a creature with one eye (but you figured that out from the product name, right?), and this eye sits directly over the click wheel. The Psyclops’ hair flips up to reveal the screen. It’s certainly not the best iPod case I’ve ever seen, but it’s quite colorful and fun for the kids. Although plastic is not the best choice for an iPod case (especially one aimed at children), it has survived my five-year-old daughter since early January, so the Psyclops is apparently pretty rugged.

This construction doesn’t come into play with the iPod nano 4G version, as it’s simply your standard silicon sleeve. It doesn’t come with a lanyard or belt clip like the 3G version, but there are many more designs from which to choose: four more characters/colors in addition to Ike and Syndi, as well as an Eyeball design in pink, orange, green, blue, purple and black. It seems the developers decided with the 4G to allow the software to be the focus of the Psyclops, and rightly so; the 3G case is just a bit too much.

The software actually comes via the Psyclops site. Each case includes a registration code you’ll use to register with the site and build your Psyclops. As with many video games with customizable characters, you choose the arms, clothes, etc. The choices are somewhat limited, but that’s fine for kids, and this isn’t the main function of the site, anyway. What you’re really doing is just getting ready for the Music Machine.

This is where you’ll be able to construct your own 30 second songs using a Garageband-style set up. You’re presented with four categories—bass, drums, SFX and elements—that are fairly well stocked with music loops. Click on one, and you’ll hear a sample. If you like it, you simply drag it to the timeline in the generator, and you’re making music. There’s quite a bit of trial and error here, as many of the loops don’t work together well at all, and you won’t know that until you’ve tried it. This makes the process a bit more time consuming and less fun than it should be, and my daughter did start to get bored with it. We’ll blame that on me, though, as I was probably more meticulous than need be when guiding her choices. What I won’t take the blame for, however, is that some of the loops are out of sync, as if they’ve got different tempos. When sampling our selections online, the drum track would often finish before the bass tracks, for example. Whether this problem carries through to the final mix, I can’t say, as I always dumped the selections and tried for something better.

When you’ve got something you like, you save your track name and move on to the Dance Creator. This is the part my daughter loved. Here, you select your background and character (only Ike or Syndi), then choose from 31 dance moves. A preview window shows the dance move, and you can add it to the timeline by clicking a button. Once you have enough dance moves in place to fill up your song, you can save your video to your online account, e-mail it to friends, and download it to iTunes to watch on your iPod.

The end results are rudimentary, but still kind of slick and quite fun if your kids are into music and/or dance (the silhouettes dancing against animated backgrounds is actually reminiscent of Apple’s iPod commercials). The application is great for teaching young kids about music and how different instruments/effects work together to create a song, and they’ll get a sense of satisfaction when watching their completed videos. I would, however, like to see a more diverse sampling of styles in the music. Maybe it’s because I’m just not at all into house/electronic, but everything sounded pretty much the same to me despite the large number of loop combos. My daughter didn’t seem to mind, but this has me fearing the day when she’ll ask me to turn off Blonde or Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. in the car so she can listen to DJ Mujava or Bang Bang Eche or something else I’m too old to “get.”

Now, you don’t need an iPod nano to jam with little animated, one-eyed robots. Psyclops Dance Mixer is available for iPhone and iPod touch, too. The app works pretty much the same way, but the dance moves and backgrounds (now including static photo realistic options) look much better. Color, animations, everything has been pumped up to take advantage of the iPhone’s capabilities. You can even add customized messages that scroll across the screen, making it a fun way to deliver messages. As with the iPod nano version, the resulting videos can be shared with others via e-mail.

The app sells for only $1.99, making it a better deal than the Psyclops case. However, you lose the integration you get by watching your character dance when framed by her own plastic hair. I can’t say for sure why Psyclops hasn’t released an iPhone case model, but I’m hoping it’s because there just aren’t a lot of tweens running around with iPhones.

Back to the nano case, as long as you’re not buying it for actual protection or functionality, you’re good. View the case as an accessory to the application, and this is a fun purchase for the younger iPod users. I imagine it could grow boring after a while, but if they’ve got friends with whom they can share their videos, it works. Psyclops turns the iPod nano into something more interactive and—dare I say it?—educational, and that’s appreciated. I mean, better your kids create their own dance videos than listen to “High School Musical” again, am I right? Yeah, you know what I’m sayin’.