Another "sound doesn't play out of right side of headphones" topic.

Question

I don't know why this happens. My friend, who knows a crapload more about audio and electronics than I do doesn't know the exact reason why this is happening.
Nothing in the headphones port has been badly damaged, yet I've only had my video iPod for about two and a half months now. I've asked at least 4 different people to try using their headphones with my iPod (one person actually had the same problem with his iPod nano), and they all said the same thing: "There's something wrong with your iPod."
Though I do drop my iPod quite often, it has a third party case that does the job of protecting it from scratches and other abuse quite well. I've never dropped it onto anything like cement, I don't subject the thing to large amounts of weight. I treat it as if existence as we know it depended on my iPod still being able to function properly.
There's an Apple Store not too far from my house, but it's located in an extremely busy shopping mall. My art teacher, who's had his 5G iPod for nearly a year, says that they'll fix it for free, provided that it's still under warranty. However, I don't know if my iPod is still under warranty....

Answer 1

A case won't protect your iPod from internal damage if you drop it, and you don't necessarily have to drop it on a hard surface to break it. If your friend can't figure out that dropping an eletronic device with a hard drive will damage it then he really doesn't know much more than you about audio and electronics.
Your warranty won't cover damage from dropping it.
What is the problem with the iPod? Sound out of only one channel? Bad sound? No sound?
And why do you drop it quite often?