Sci-Fi Channel actually did a story on a solution called GadgetTrak (http://www.gadgettrak.com) a while back:

/archives/2007/02/26/gadgettrak_find.html

Instead of just relying on labels their software actually "phones home" location informaiton and have several case studies to prove it.

I'm sorry, but the plan is "if an iPod is plugged into an unauthorized recharging device, it will not recharge." Okay, and who decides what constitutes an 'unauthorized recharging device?' Apple? Now maybe I am paranoid, but it sounds like they are planning to make it impossible for an iPod owner to use any other recharging cables or docks EXCEPT the ones sold by Apple. So if you lose one, you HAVE to buy theirs to replace it. You can't simply pick up an iGo charger from Radio Shack. They aren't trying to help people whose iPod's have been stolen -- they have already admitted they could do this with their existing hardware and software, but it would actually COST them money to do this, and they would lose the increased revenue of another iPod purchase as a replacement -- they have just found another way to limit your purchasing options to only Apple. And, pardon me for asking, but what is to stop an iPod thief from buying a dock or charging cable from Apple to use with a stolen iPod? Are they going to spend the money and time to make sure that the person buying these items is a registered owner of a legal iPod? I highly doubt it. I'm sorry, but this is just another scam for a big corporation to fleece their loyal customers of more money. In this way, Apple is no better than Microsoft. That's my opinion.

Fortunately I have never had my IPod jacked, but this does show me how it is quite clear that Apple not only has turned a deaf ear to their customers, but it actively fighting this issue tooth and nail for the sake of the cash cow they have been milking for years on replacement sales with the replacement music many of them will buy.

The unauthorized charging system is just another scam to make more sales when the honest customers accidentally use an unauthorized charger and lock up our IPod. I am sure they will claim there is no system set up to unlock it, since it is too hard to prove we are the true owners of the locked device.

I was planning to switch over to an apple computer soon from my decade of PC Hell, but now my trust of Apple just fell in the toilet. I see they are just another overly greedy corporation like all the rest. That is a shame, since they would have made several thousand in sales of hardware and all new software.

"Rendering the iPod useless after the remaining charge runs out, this is a huge step in the right direction."

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

A corporation is a corporation. No matter how much you hate o love one, they are in for the money, and they will milk dry all their "loyal" costumers. This is not a "huge step", its just a little band aid so people can feel that Apple "cares" about, when in reality they are just getting more money while not solving any problem.

I can only laught at all those fools who own an Apple product, no matter how much you "love" that brand, Apple only loves your money. This is just another proof of that.

At the end of the day, if people are stupid enough to fall for this, then fine by me. Its their money, not mine.

I have a tough time believing that Apple would want to cut the legs out from under their accessory suppliers. This is the entire reason Apple is pretty much synonymous with portable music players. Accessories for the iPod can virtually be bought anywhere, which is part of the broad appeal of the device. This is the reason other players can't really get the same foothold in the market that Apple has.

so lets review...

one, its not apples fault that you cant keep track of your own ipod... if you loose a cell phone or a camera, no one is going to retrieve it for you...

also, lets give this one a shot... you want to have apple to report back to you who has stoles your ipod. wouldn't apple then be responsible to report to the music industry all of the illegal music that you just downloaded off limewire?

buy a new ipod, hypocrite.

It would actually be extraordinarily simple for Apple to implement a system for tracking stolen hardware with minimal cost, if they had the inclination. And the benefit to them? Well, aside from the good PR and increased perceived value of their product, users would be more likely to purchase and register them. All that would be required is to allow users to register the serial number (which is hardwired into the device anyway) of any device they choose when they create their account. Basic account maintenance is already available (keeping personal or payment information up-to-date, for example), but if users were able to register their devices and report them stolen, Apple could simply log the IP address of any computer the device is connected to.

iTunes already has the capability to phone home; this is just one more piece of information that could be sent. Then the user's account would be flagged with a hit, and the user would be provided with IP address information which they could then present to the police, their insurance company, etc.

In addition, the IP address and/or copy of iTunes that had been flagged as having contact with a stolen device could be compared against any iTunes Music Store account from the same computer, and then the person reporting the device stolen would have identity information for the thief, or at least information leading to someone the thief knows.

Of course, to protect against abuse, Apple could require that access to the information be limited to the police and/or the holders of appropriate court documentation such as a subpoena, but this would not require nearly as much infrastructure as implementing a hardware change such as has been proposed to prevent "unauthorized charging devices" from being used with a stolen device. Just a thought. :-)

Hi,

Anybody interested in tracking and protecting their portable devices such as Ipod's should check www.gadgettheft.com , A friend of mine is involved with this company and I would happily recommend them.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Manuel Boissiere

Ack. I've had *3* ipods stolen. My friends call me the unluckiest iPod owner ever. Although since I sucked it up and bought the $120 Nano, I've held on to it w/out fail. I think it's because it's much easier to slip in a pocket. Ipods are relatively heavy and get left out on tables or (in my case) cars.

Why buy iPods in the 1st place? There are other music players out there with comparable capacity and features for much less money... and are less popular, which in turn, indicates a lesser likelyhood of getting stolen.
About Apple being just another corporation? True. Just like Microsoft, they all are looking to take your money. That's what corporations do. They come up with a product that people will buy in high quantities and sell it for a huge profit. Take Windows, for example, if Microsoft sold Windows Vista for half the price, they'd still make millions of dollars. The same goes for Apple and their iPods.
That's all I'm going to say for now... I don't want to insult anybody.

Apparently apple is willing to track down its stolen computers. Some computers were stolen from a store and when apple had someone call who was shopping on ebay and ask if the computer was legitimate apple knew it was one of the computers from the store and called the police who found and arrested the thieves.
Does apple have a different policy for computers than ipods or a different policy for items taken diretly from a store as opposed to from a private person?
Apparently store owners know all the serail numbers of the comps they are selling. Why dont store owners know the serial numbers of the ipods they sell? Or do they?
And how did the woman shopping on ebay know what the serial number of the comp was? Is it listed on the outside of the box or were the thieves stupid enough to post it and if it is listed on the outside of the box why can ipods also have their serial number listed on the outside of the box so ebay shoppers can call and ask if they are stolen or not?
Here is the link to the story-
http://starbulletin.com/2003/06/29/news/story2.html

As of 9-10-2008 Apple is not doing anything to help consumers who have had their ipod stolen. I just didn't have the serial number written down and Apple won't give it to me, they say for security purposes. How much more unsecure can it get? It's STOLEN... Then they tell me the they will give it to the police, but the police say they don't call for those. So let's all just not buy any ipod or Apple products.

My granddaughters have had three Ipod Nanos stolen, and I've just purchased another. It would seem to me that to protect the Ipod from being used by a thief is a rather simple task. Simply require a password to synchronize or recharge it. If the wrong password has been entered three times,the IP of the computer would be sent to an Apple-funded security website. Gadgettheft and others like it only give you a sticky label for your product. I can just see the thieves calling you up and offering it back to you for a reward. Most Ipods are stolen not lost.

omg same thing happened to me
i was going to the bathroom and someone went in my backpack and stole my ipod out of my backpack
what the hell do i have to do ?please help me !
thanks britt

APPLE ALREADY HAS THE ABILITY TO TRACK IPODS WHEN YOU REGISTER ONLINE THEY HAVE THE SER.# FOR THAT UNIT. THEY ONLY NEED TO SEE WHEN SOME ONE ELSE USES IT ONLINE WHEN IT IS REPORTED STOLLEN.

First password protected ipods or voice or thumbprint recognition
(if its a shared ipod having a couple of different logins allowed, but apple doesnt want sharing they want buying) would help and using your itunes account not the ipodto retrieve forgotten password

This could help deter a thief and also prevent a reset to your ipod back to
factory settings erasing all your content and proof it was yours(except for the serial number)

When you first plug your ipod in to itunes it automatically shows up your serial number which is linked to your account after registration, and all computers have ip addresses and could be tracked so Apple knows when someone tries to register and use another's ipod and the computers possible location.

Apple needs to have a registry or
stolen database of the serial numbers and the 'victim' could hope that someone foolishly tries to register then Apple could collect the information even if the one registering may have bought it unknowingly from a theif, it could help with a lead.
Though ip addresses can be changed and the thief in a public location it may be possible narrow a suspect down if they do it from home or a place that requires id and sign in sheets for public internet uses, which I believe all businesses should do.

Investigators have the power to track down hard core criminals in such manners or sometimes those "hurting" the music industry through stolen music.
By the way itunes automatically adds your file sharing programs such as limewire to its library and sets it to share, which is how I beileve alot of people got busted and put on trial for the music industries sales loss of
thousands upon thousands of dollars due to a single person sharing content to thousands of people that downloaded it free through them.(look up the court cases! It's amazing how much they will try to fine you)
but of course they wouldn't waste resources such as those to track down lost ipod.

So even if they did some things like that what happens if you want to sell your ipod, apple probably won't like that, but having an option to let apple know you are no longer the owner of the ipod so it can synch up with it and reset it back so someone else can use it and erase that previous users ipod from itunes, but then what happens if someone sold it to another person without resetting then reported it stolen....there's always something...but people should always have proof of purchasing from someone someway or another. Im sure there could be a way to setup a legitiment used sale but Im not rambling on anymore
(yay encore encore I finally shut up! heh)

My semi truck got stolen on July / 20 /09 my 6 months new ipod classic 160 gb was on it i reported slolen ,I went apple store on my town to look for help ,they said therer's no help about it buy new again, I'm sure that i will never buy again from them any other item until apple do something about tracking stolen ipods ,that's what everyone should do .

I hope a digital solution is adopted to prevent ipod theft.

Until then it is probably best to simply report a stolen ipod on free sites online.

I found a easy to use one called http://www.stolen-property.com/

It can be used to report a stolen iPod or hundreds of other pieces of stolen property- anything with a serial number really.