iPod: this season's must-have for muggers

West Midlands police have issued a stark warning to iPod users: ditch the white headphones or pay the price.

Fashion-conscious music lovers are apparently being targeted by muggers. The Times tells the sorry tale of 22-year-old language student Roland Baskerville, who lost his 20GB model on the mean streets of Birmingham: "I was walking down the road near to my home when a man who was walking the other way pointed at my headphones."

The thief then asked Baskerville if he was listening to an iPod and, receiving an affirmative answer, he "pulled a knife out and started waving it at me, saying: ‘Well hand it over, then.’ I gave it to him and he ran off. He must have known I was wearing an iPod because of the white headphones."

The police are advising iPod junkies to use less distinctive headphones, something which is apparently akin to asking Victoria Beckham to shop at Oxfam. The Sun quotes one iPod representative as saying: "There are guys who’d rather be robbed than change the colour of the headphones."

Quite right. What's the point of buying a must-have fashion accessory unless everyone within a 300-yard radius can enjoy it too? As one poster to an Ipodlounge.com forum puts it: "I always pick out the iPod people when I'm walking down the street. I know who all the cool people are."

Yes, it's certainly lovely to stand out from the crowd.

I wonder if these iPod crooks, or the people that they fence the stolen goods to, have any clue that they will need to own a computer in order to correctly USE the iPod??

Probably not. And if they do have 1/4 of a brain and figure it out, they'll just steal that too. [The computer, not the brain, hehe]

It's a pity this is in Britain, where private citizens are prohibited from defending themselves against criminals. If a thief approached me with a knife and demanded my iPod or anything else, he would quickly and permanently learn the "Never take a knife to a gunfight" Smith and Wesson lesson.

Well, of course the solution is iPod registration. Every iPod owner must register with the government. It may become necessary someday to ban and confiscate all iPods. We should also be suing Apple Computer for creating and negligently marketing this dangerous product. We have to do this. For the children.

"I always pick out the iPod people when I'm walking down the street. I know who all the cool people are."

Everyone knows that wearing an iPod that's been stolen and fenced is much cooler than wearing one bought from a store.

That's why I listen to my MP3s at home.

And if I want to listen to the radio, I use my Nokia 3200 cellphone as an FM radio (can't listen to Rush, because he's in KMOX 1100, but I've got Hannity on 97.1)

I wonder if these iPod crooks, or the people that they fence the stolen goods to, have any clue that they will need to own a computer in order to correctly USE the iPod??

Good point, stuck with the other guy's music, that is until the battery runs out. Then he'll have to steal or buy a charging cable.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.