You might use any one of a number of different formats in which to store the recorded music that you listen to, and if you're a huge enough music fan, you may use more than one format. Decades ago, just about everyone had a turntable wired to his home stereo system because vinyl LPs were the major method of capturing recorded music.

Others may use old-fashioned cassette tapes, because independent music producers have found that cassettes are a quick, inexpensive format to use. Those small, silver CD discs are the most often deployed medium for commercial sound recordings, but they are probably going to be replaced in days to come.

Ease of use and cost-effectiveness has given the marketing edge to MP3 sound files, which are quickly outstripping the CD as the musical format of greatest popularity. There are any number of sites online where music fans can pay for and download music in seconds, and those music files are ready to be heard as soon as they arrive.

These days, many use their computer as their sound system, which means you might have all the electronics to play back your downloaded music over a super speaker system. Once you've downloaded your digital music files, you can crank up your iPod, or whatever portable music player you use, and take your music with you to all locations.

You'll find that iPods are compact, lightweight music players manufactured by Apple Computers that can play back music that has been translated to MP3 format. You may have recently purchased an iPod and you'd naturally like to keep it looking attractive and in good running order, which is where iPod cases and skins come in.

Purchasing a case for the iPod you've just laid out some hard-earned cash for is one of the smartest moves you could make, because otherwise you'd risk damaging your new music player. All iPod Touches need 4g touch cases, which only makes sense if you think about it, because the case will be specially fitted to the player, giving optimal results.

When the case is specifically designed for the very model of player that you're using, you can expect that the case will furnish the optimum in protection for your iPod. But it's not only about protection when you buy a case, you'll also find all types of colors, textures and patterns that are designed to satisfy just about every possible taste.

You can expect to get more years of enjoyment out of your iPod when you take care of it and protect it from the damages it can endure from regular use. You likely paid a fairly substantial amount of money for your iPod, so you'll certainly want to keep it in good running order for many years to come.

You'll want your iPod to continue functioning as long as possible, and the case that you buy can play a major role in determining that.