When you look at an iPod under the light, you can easily see numbers of scratches on its white surface. However they remain not very visible.
On the black iPod nano, things are pretty different. After having it in the pocket in less than an hour, we already noticed a lot of very visible scratches.
In order to protect it, and while waiting for "nano skins", we tried to find how to avoid damages.
Till something better comes along, we covered it with a Palm tungsten film protection. Here is the result.

The film is almost invisible if you take time to apply it suitably and without bubbles. Once in place, we cut out the surpluses with a cutter.
Although covered by film, the button and the click wheel function perfectly.
We used Palm films. They are more expensive than the other brands, but they are withdrawn without effort and without any adhesive remain.