Cannot get the cover off any advice?

This is a particularly difficult task to start, but once you start freeing some of the clips, it gets much easier. I started with regular opening tools and very frustratingly worked my way into the seam between the front and rear panels. This takes extreme patience. Once you get enough of the seam open on one side of the iPod, use a very thin 1" wide spackle blade and very gently flex the blade down toward your work surface until some of the clips free themselves. Allow the blade to flex away from your hand a bit, but be careful. It's very terrifying, but with confidence and determination, you'll be able to get the job done. Here's a photo of my tools and the opened iPod. Sorry that I didn't take any step by step ones.