Arrr, I'm a pirate...
not an iPod Shuffle!

No, this isn't an April Fool's joke (remember, it's October) or something from The Onion newspaper. There's a company out there that designs costumes for iPods. Its name is iAttire, and it's a real company based out of Los Angeles. Its limited edition Halloween 2005 lineup of costumes includes models named Frankenstein, Ghost, Mummy, Pirate, Vampire, Paper Mask, and Witch. Each one comes in three custom sizes, one for the regular-sized iPod, one for the Mini, and one for the Shuffle. Again, this is no joke.

There are a ton of iPod accessories, but only a few qualify as "clothing." One that immediately comes to mind is the C. Robinson Hoodie, which is a terry-cloth pouch that's designed to look like a hooded sweatshirt made specifically for the iPod (it comes in pink and baby blue). One of these, at least, falls into the "protective case" category, whereas the only functional aspect of an iAttire costume is to make your iPod look scary. I'm not scared, however disconcerted the other MP3 players may feel at being left out. Well, cheer up, Creative, Dell, and Sony MP3 player owners, as I'm sure the iPod costumes will fit all players...if you want to go that route.

I could go on and on about how ridiculous these are (er, ridiculously cute), but you really have to see them for yourself. Go to iAttire.com here to chuckle over the absurdity of "Witch Costume for iPod," which covers the iPod entirely. (OK, these are growing on me.) Despite the silliness, they'd make great sidekicks at the office Halloween party.

The deadline is October 28 if you'd like your iPod costume to arrive by the 31st, so it's not too late to order one--or more--of them. By the way, iAttire also makes Cowboy, Clown, Cabaret, Angel, Ballerina, and Princess costumes if you're looking to dress up your iPod post-Halloween.

See more iPod costumes at iAttire.net