Why The iFrogz Tadpole Has Jeremiah Thanking His Lucky Stars

My husband has a strange sense of obligation concerning Z Recommends.

We have had an iFrogz Tadpole for months and have let Z use our video iPod on several occasions to watch short videos. (At 10 cents a download, HeyWatch is a great service for downloading videos. Or so we've heard.)

Our video iPod was a gift. Something we could never really afford, and would never really splurge to buy for ourselves. It is a beautiful thing.

So I was surprised and annoyed yesterday when he told me he wanted to drop said video iPod, from a height of about three feet, on our tile floor.

"No way," I said. "Forget it."

He looked troubled. "But the whole point of this cover is that it protects the iPod," he said. "They even claim on their website that it 'kid-proofs' it. How can we review the product without testing that claim? Isn't that our job?"

"That's ridiculous," I said. "No one expects you to break our video iPod in order to test a $20 product. We can say that we didn't dare drop it, but the company implies that it will protect it, and that our crappy schoolhouse ruler says the dust-free silicone is about 2mm thick, that it has very thick rubbery handles which would help cushion a fall. But I've seen those cracked iPhone photos."

"The iPhone has a glass screen. On iPods it's plastic."

"Forget it," I said. "If you want to put up your personal money to buy us a replacement if you damage it, go ahead. But those things aren't cheap."

(We are always threatening each other with the spectre of spending personal money, a small allowance we each have to spend as we please. Jeremiah spends his on books or artwork or junky breakfast when he's late for work. I usually spend mine on music, clothes, or photography supplies. Occasionally we will pool our resources to buy something more expensive that we both really want but can't justify taking out of our budget elsewhere.)

"Well, how much are they right now?" He looked it up. "$250 for the one we have, 30 gigs," he said glumly. I could see him doing a quick mental calculation. $10/week personal money goes into $250... for about seven months. "Maybe they'll do a price drop since they're pushing the iPod Touch. Steve Jobs loves to mess with his customers."

He fondled the iPod in its iFrogz case for a while while we watched the Top Chef finale. (Dale should have won.) He popped it in and out of the case, examining the cushioning of the silicone, particularly in the top corners, where it seemed the most vulnerable. I heard audible sighs.

"Just forget about it," I said. "Our readers don't care if you drop it."

Well, Jeremiah either thought the matter over in his sleep or he is less inhibited when he is barely awake. This morning, before sitting down and pretending to be me to write this review, he dropped it. On its top corner, the most vulnerable spot, onto our ceramic tile floor, from a height of three feet.

Actually, he first dropped it from about 18 inches, thinking he might squeak by with an excuse about how low Z is to the ground. But when he saw how well the iFrogz Tadpole cushioned the fall, he decided to go for the three-foot test.

And, as you've probably guessed by now, our iPod emerged with no harm done. Saving my idiot husband $250.

We loved the iFrogz Tadpole even before it proved its mettle. The concept, the styling, and the functionality are all great. A $25 kit buys the case in one of a handful of colors plus a pair of kids' headphones and a round disc to lay over the click wheel to protect that from little munchkins as well, while still allowing it to be used. The discs ("screenz" - everything on the iFrogz site ends with a "z") come in a huge assortment of images and colors. We chose a plain gray one because we were concerned about Z thinking that the iPod belonged to her, when in fact we just wanted to let her use it occasionally.

The iFrogz silicone has an anti-static coating to help repel dust.

Speaking of headphones: I know Jeremiah has been going on and on about how inappropriate it is to allow a three-year-old to use headphones but I contend that there is a time and a place for them - on several plane trips we have planned, for example. Movies on the plane are often completely inappropriate for youngsters and we like to bring a variety of options for entertainment on the plane. So while I agree with Jeremiah that headphones should not see daily use by a three-year-old (and that earbuds are terrible) I'm not going to tsk-tsk a parent who occasionally plugs their kid in to help them survive a long trip or otherwise very difficult situation (waiting on a doctor or dentist in the exam room, etc.). The challenge is to not expand your definition of those situations - shopping can be hard, too, but that doesn't mean I want to sacrifice my interaction with my child just so she'll sit quietly in the cart.

Unfortunately, the headphones do not work well for us. The iFrogz website says they fit "most 3- to 8-year-olds" and I don't understand why they will barely stay on her head. Maybe she's just not big enough yet. Otherwise they seem like fine headphones, not much different from cheap adult headphones except they have a bit thicker plastic and the adjuster band has no exposed metal and is probably less likely to snag hair if adjusted while on your kid's head.

Our only other complaint about the iFrogz Tadpole's design is that you have to take your iPod out of the case to dock it, necessary to both charge the battery and update playlists. (The hold button and, of course, the headphone jack are accessible.) Getting the iPod in and out of the sheath is a cinch - it literally takes about five seconds, because I just checked - but there's something psychological about a protective device like this that makes me want to be able to leave it on all the time. If I've committed to using the product, why should I have to take it off? It seems like they could have cut a slot in the bottom to allow access to the charging slot. Then again, one of the main things we need to take it off for is to set it up in our Bose SoundDock stereo ($300 in black or white), and I have a feeling the thickness of the iFrogz wrap would keep it from docking there properly.

Z enjoying one of her all-time favorite shows, Chapi Chapo.

I'd better be quiet about this, or Jeremiah will decide he needs to hack a hole in the bottom of our iFrogz Tadpole himself. Did I mention this whole thing got started with Jeremiah thinking he could make an iPod "box" for Z to use our iPod mini... out of cardboard... with a button that would trigger the iPod's play/pause on the click wheel? Sigh. My dear, that's what personal money is for. (Thankfully, we discovered the iHome2Go boombox instead.)

The iFrogz Tadpole is available in a $25 kit or for $20 for the sheath alone from iFrogz.com. Incidentally, they're having a pretty ridiculous fire sale on iPod mini cases (not a Tadpole, but a similar sheath without the handles) for $5 for the sheath and button shield.

We have a purple iFrogz Tadpole case to give away! We'll be saving this giveaway for late October, for reasons we are excited to announce next week. Stay tuned!