As cool as the iPod and the iPod Nano are, what can make an iPod stand out are the accessories that are available to go with them. Accessories for the iPod are designed to do a few things. One, they should, and usually do, makine using and enjoying the iPod that much easier. They should also enhance the value of your iPod by offering certain features. For example, an iPod speaker accessory can make your iPod's music blast super loud and clear. An iPod carrying case should protect your iPod from the elements.

Another important aspect of the iPod accessory is that it should showcase the personality of the individual user. An iPod carrying case, per se, can protect your iPod while explaining to the world that pink is a favorite color of yours (if you get a pink carrying case, obviously!).

An important element of the human condition is to take a similar, or nondescript item, like an iPod and make it own own by adding our own unique personality to it. Think about it in these terms: remember your school binder when it was new? Over time, you would decorate it and adorn it with drawings and phrases that were special and memorable to you. It was a vehicle for self-expression. By the end of the school year, most binders in school would be decorated the same way. The same can be said for the iPod.

You can purchase iPods in different colors, get funky carrying cases, speakers and other nifty little things. These accessories don't make your iPod louder, and they don't enable them to hold more songs. They do, though, identify the iPod tightly with its owner and principal user.

This probably all sounds like a bad sociology lesson, but it's probably something worth considering. If you have an iPod, iPod Video or an iPod Nano, and are looking to get some accessories for it, ask yourself why and then ask yourself why you want that particular accessory in that particular format. You may end up surprising yourself.