If any dust gets in the 'leather' case it will end up scratching the iPod nicely. I would suggest going to Shieldzone.com and getting an invisibleshield BEFORE you start using the iPod (and we all know how keen you'd be to use it... patience, grasshopper). Slightly tricky to apply but it really works. After that, wave goodbye to cases (unless you go droppng stuff all the time).