San Jose, CA-

The list of stolen iPods posted at Stolen911.com continues to grow.  Victims of theft have posted over 160 stolen iPods since October.   Check out the video…

my stolen ipod touch commercial from matthew k on Vimeo.

Last February I wrote a post about how you could find your stolen iPod’s serial number in iTunes.  By running a diagnostic check from within iTunes you would see “last connected iPod serial number”.  Cool, you had it and now you could report that number to the police, submit it to a registry like Stolen911.com , place a craigslist ad, whatever.  I re-posted the same information here on The Stolen iPod earlier this month on Sept. 15th.   I did not think to re-check if it still worked.  I had no reason to believe apple would remove this feature.  Silly me, last night after checking my Windows iTunes software, my friends, my other friends, its gone.   Evidently all versions of iTunes 7 have removed the ability to view the iPods serial number when its not connected.   Hopefully you still have your receipt, box, or wrote it down.  So why would Apple do this? 

Frustrated victims of iPod theft often turn to Craigslist to post a message about the crime hoping someone may be able to help.  The problem, the post on Craigslist usually expires within a couple of weeks.   A new stolen property registry website hopes to help.  

Stolen911.com allows anyone to post a free message just like popular classified sites.   Users can post the typical information, what, when, where, reward, etc.   Photos can be added and videos can be linked.   The difference is that Stolen911.com lists the item for 1 year.   This gives the listing plenty of time to be indexed by the major search engines like Google and Yahoo.   If someone bought an iPod they think might be stolen, they can search Stolen911.com to see if its been listed or enter the serial number of the iPod in a search engine.  The hope is the iPod’s serial number was listed on Stolen911.com and would be found by the search engine.  If the iPod still has not been recovered when the year is up, the user can re-list the iPod for another year.   If its recovered, the user can remove the post or tell the story of the stolen iPod’s recovery.   Of course, the quality of each post is only as good and the information submitted.   Entering the stolen iPod’s serial number is very important.  (See related post on how to find your stolen iPod’s serial number on iTunes)  A field is also available to list any special engravings the stolen iPod may have.

One more great thing about Stolen911.com is the website is searchable by everyone, not just law enforcement.  Still, Stolen911.com suggests the following when your iPod is stolen… 
   
• Get the serial number off your iTunes software if you don’t have it written down (How to)
• Make a police report
• Notify Apple
• List the stolen iPod on Stolen911.com
• List it on the internet as many places as possible, Craigslist, MySpace, Facebook, and other stolen property registry sites.

Other features of Stolen911.com include the ability for the user to leave as much or as little information as possible.  Your email, phone numbers, etc won’t be displayed unless you allow it.  Viewers can send an anonymous tip regarding a stolen item to Stolen911.com with out revealing their identity. 

Stolen911.com is not just for iPods.  Anything can be listed as stolen.  Other popular stolen items include stolen pets, musical equipment, motorcycles, cars, gps devices, satellite radios, computers, etc.   Best of all its FREE.   List your stolen iPod here.

At least that’s the opinion of one reader of the recently posted New York Times article, “Are iPods to Blame for Rising Crime?”  The article is based on a report from The Urban Institute that suggests the proliferation of iPods aided the national violent crime rate to rise over the last couple of years.

The article and report are kind of boring.  It suggests the surge of thefts of iPods is due to the devices mainstream success.   In the past it was your expensive tennis shoes or North Face jackets that were sure to increase you chances of becoming a victim of theft.  Those were a small group compared to iPod users.   iPods are used by everybody.  It’s a target rich environment for crooks.

Also cited are the following reasons…

• iPods have no easily accessible anti-theft protection

• iPods do not require a subscription

• iPods may be stolen for their status, not resold

• iPod uses are distracted

These factors make iPod users an easy target.

The best part of the article are the comments at the end.  Viewers blame everything from Republicans to the President of Iran for the rise in iPod thefts.  But the best comment was from a viewer named “twowheeler”…

Ever since I got my Zune, nobody has mugged me.  Coincidence?”

 

Good one twowheeler, probably very true.  

UPDATED OCT. 31st 2007.  This does not work now on any version of iTunes 7.  Wacky stuff you think?

In order to report your iPod stolen with the police, Apple and a website site registry, you’ll need the serial number.  If you did not write it don’t worry, you can find the serial number in your itunes software.  

• Open up iTunes and go to HELP…   
• then Run Diagnostic…
• then iPod Diagnostics.   
• Look for the “last connected iPod serial number”.  

There will be about 11 digits that are the serial number.   Get those numbers listed on an internet registry.   If anyone runs the number in a search engine like Google, they will know the iPod is stolen.