The Apple iPod nano is as close to an ideal personal music player that exists on the market today. Not only does it sound great, but it’s so gorgeous you’ll be tempted to wear it around your neck like a piece of jewelry. Now you can, with the iPod nano Lanyard Headphones ($40) a nicely-designed accessory that lets you show off your nano and abandon that annoying tangle of wires. We put one of these lanyards to the test, and liked what we saw -- and heard.

The lanyard plugs into the dock connector on the bottom of the iPod nano (see graphic below). The part of the connector that inserts into the dock connector doesn’t carry any of the signal—that’s done with a small miniplug that inserts into the same place the earphones jack is inserted. The dock connector itself has two tiny latches that help to hold the nano to the lanyard. As a result, this small two-part connector attaches the iPod to these earphones with the perfect amount of tension, where it’s easy enough to unplug but is certainly not going to let your nano fall to the ground, either.

Read more about the new iPod headphones at http://gadgets.consumerelectronicsnet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=35362.