The time it requires to disassemble an iPod varies with skill and equipment. It varies between several hundredths of a second or up to an hour depending on if one decides to use a solid, unyielding concrete surface or tiny electronics tools.
Taking apart iPods is like building a lightsaber in reverse. Only a skilled individual can do it, it is very tedious, and you need the Force to be able to manipulate things you cannot see or touch.
Apparently people were getting into the 4rd generation iPod Classic too easily. So Apple reengineered the 5th generation to be covered by a single anodized aluminum face plate that is held in place with aluminum clips. The non-flexing aluminum ensures that the rigid metal plates are held together tightly. Furthermore, any excessive attempt to open the case will cause a small cantilevered hammer to swing against a tiny glass vial of vinegar, flooding the cabinet and thus dissolving the specially engineered Toshiba hard drive inside. Also released is a vial that aerosolizes 1,5-dichloro-3-thiapentane to deter the insolent customer by damaging their respiratory lining.
Apple surprised many with the design of the 4th generation Nano. It utilizes a “sleeve cabinet” like that of the early iPod mini or briefly released Nano 2G. The front and back are a single anodized aluminum tube with a hole cut out for the display. The LCD occupies the top half and the main board is situated under the scroll wheel. The very thin and flexible, but highly incendiary Li-ion battery is glued to the back of the case and is about the size of a credit card folded in half. The focusing crystal is located between the LCD and the main board.
