I ordered an Invisible Shield for my iPod nano just under a fortnight ago. It rocked up in the mail today, very nicely packed in a padded bag. So tonight I took a deep breath and began the application procedure involving the deliberate wetting of my music-playing 4GB-storing oh-so-uber-stylish-looking friend… Click through for the run down.

Learning
It was particularly useful to watch the footage from the Shield Zone website of a shield being applied to an iPod Video. I visited the URL at the bottom of the product liner and downloaded a WMV. Simply having seen how “the pros” handle the film and how to use the spray appropriately was quite reassuring.

Getting Started
That tiny piece of film for the clickwheel middle button is incredibly annoying. I’m not usually a clumsy type but I managed to drop the little circle three or four times. I was working at a table but had laid a towel down, which was a mistake. Having dropped the tiny exposed circle meant that it was dotted with very fine hairs and threads – I should have placed more emphasis on the “lint free environment”. I subsequently used a comparatively large amount of the spray on the back of the circle piece to get it lint-free again. That meant that, after frantically re-establishing which side of the circle was the sticky side, applying it to the button became a very slippery exercise. However, given its size, it did lie down on the button with no apparent bubbles trapped underneath. It is difficult to squeeze out bubbles from underneath a tiny slippery circle while trying to hold it firmly in place with slippery fingers…

When I had finally applied the circle to my liking I took a look at it. Even now it appears to be so perfectly sized to the button that it is not currently sitting down on the button all the way to the edge of the film. Attempting to squeeze it down actually compresses the button and the clickwheel itself lifts the film at the edge. I have read online that apparently the film shrinks a little upon drying so hopefully in the morning it’ll all be fine.

Clickwheel
I have opted not to apply the ring of film to the clickwheel as it has been exposed for the whole life of my 6-month old iPod with no obvious scratches. (I had previously protected my nano with another [inferior] stick-on film which was a stopgap measure before biting the bullet and buying an Invisible Shield…) The nano’s clickwheel is textured deliberately and I wish to retain that feel. Given its matte appearance and inherent scratch resistance it doesn’t particularly need the glossy film covering in my opinion.

iPod Front
By this stage I had resolved not to drop the film again, and to ensure that my fingertips were free of tiny lint. I also noticed on the video that with sprayed fingertips and sprayed film it seemed OK to handle both sides of the film. I used just enough spray to keep the film sliding a little when I applied it, and I was particularly sparing when it occurred to me that I might not have enough to finish off the job without reverting to the old soapy water solution.

Figuring the aligment out was fine but I did have a couple of tiny threads or hairs caught under the film which necessitated lifting the film and spraying iPod/fingers/film to be able to move it. Squeezing out the spray around the sides of the clickwheel was the most tricky bit. By the way, I did not use the packaged plastic wedge to squeeze out the water – it seemed too thick and not flexible enough. I ended up using a plastic shop card much the same as in the video.

iPod Back
Having enough spray remaining I applied it normally to the remaining piece. This bit was the easiest, with no fiddly cutouts to worry about and having the consternation-filled experience of applying the other bits under my belt. I simply applied, aligned, realigned and squeezed. Some of the edges didn’t stick down immediately so I simply moved on to another edge with less moisture.

Comments
The whole process took about an hour. There are currently a bunch of very tiny bubbles under the film both front and back which will apparently vanish as the film’s adhesive cures for the next 24 hours. The film is a stippled surface which doesn’t necessarily detract from the look of the nano. It gathers fingerprints quickly but cleans off easily too.

+48 Hours
The film has sealed down quite well. I can see only about 1/4 of the tiny bubbles now – the glue must have cured some more over the two days since application. The clickwheel button is looking a lot more secure now.

Final Word
I wish that the iPod nano shield also had the corner tabs which fold over the round silver corners, like the full iPod shield. I wish I had squeezed out more water so that the bubbles totally disappeared. But all in all, the nano looks as slim and fabulous as it does when not shielded, and indeed, when looking at the front it’s hard to tell that there’s a film on it at all.