"Cell phones and GPS systems too, because people leave them in their cars."

But that's part of the problem. Say you steal my cell phone, what do you get? You can't use the SIM card because that would lead the authorities right to you, so you just have the phone, which is useless without a contract. And most of the time when you get a contract they ask for a serial number off the phone which, you guessed it, will come up as stolen. Much of the same stuff applies to the GPS systems as well.

The reason iPods are *such* an inviting target is that they don't require a subscription or registration. You just need a copy of iTunes, which is easy enough to get, and an internet connection. And that's if you want to use it as your own personal player...you could just as easily sell it for a quick $150-$200 depending on the model, or use it offline with the music already loaded onto it.

As I said before, I don't believe that they *cause* theft, which even the study shied away from actually saying (unlike JT, they understand the difference between correllation and causation), but it's a might big coincidence considering the high ratio of value to ease of procurement/use.

This is just as ridiculous as blaming the vidya.

As much as I hate IPods and its fadness I can't but wonder this simple question.

Whatever happend to people causing crimes without trying to find rediculous scapegoats?

Maybe back in the 1920 that new indoor plumbing could of been a rise in crime because it was the newest technology back then.

Uh... 'kay?

I seriously wonder who thought of this as a hot-button topic for election votes. ..

It's the only explanation as to why someone would come to such a conclusion.

"following in the footsteps of things like Air Jordan sneakers"

lol :)

I suppose it's too easy to blame the causes of crime on the offenders?

iPods and crime.......lol. That's funny. I guess people who steal expensive jewelry, and cars(oh wait, of course that's GTA's fault) and cell phones, and any other conceivable object under the sun are just normal criminals, but people who steal iPods are special cases. The ipod is definitely a crime causer. XD

@ Arlen -

Tis pretty much what I was thinking...

It makes sense that iPods could attract muggers. But my main point is that iPods are not *causing* the crime. They are simply attracting it. There is a big difference :)

I can see it. The number of iPods I saw when I was on the Metro (DC's subway) was astounding. And with the number of people bumping into each other as the doors open and close, it wouldn't be hard for a good pickpocket to get one, unplug the headphones, and conceal it.

I don't think it's an issue of "iPods makes you steal!" issue as it is "iPods are easy to steal and valuable; therefore, they are stolen more".

-P

well, if there are more concealable high price electronics around, im assuming that people are gong to stea them.

[...] That’s my take on it, read the original article here. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fblog.gamerpk.com%2F2008%2F03%2F06%2Fa-reason-for-high-crime-rates-personal-gadgets-not-video-games%2F'; addthis_title = 'A+Reason+for+High+Crime+Rates%3A+Personal+Gadgets%2C+Not+Video+Games%21'; addthis_pub = 'gamerpk'; Tagged with Computer Games and Crime, Crime, Crime Rates, Crime Studies, Criminals. [...]

Other than the sort of minor stuff that happens when you're a kid, I've only been stolen from once. That was last year when I was in Knocksville, Tennessee with my wife because of a court case.

We were staying in an upscale hotel right down the street from the Univerity, my truck was parked in a parking garage under the hotel. Someone picked up a huge cinder block and smashed my window and stole my wife's 30BG iPod and the docking station it was plugged into, as well as her jacket. We had a bag in the back seat with our checkbooks in it as well as some jewlery, it was untouched.

I have no doubt in my mind that the person who broke into my vehicle did so with the intention of taking the clearly visible iPod, and just grabbed the jacket because it was convenient. They didn't search the vehicle, and there were other, more expensive vehicles around (it's an '03 Toyota Tacoma, there were Escalades in the garage) that didn't have visible iPods in them.

I'm not saying they're 100% right, just that it's strange that this never happened until we were out of town with an iPod plugged in.

iPods huh? Well, at least the blame is getting passed around to pretty much everything now.

Anyone who walks around with white earbuds is just asking for it, imo. The first step to preventing this is to get some other kind of earbuds or headphones other than white ones, so that a crook doesn't automatically assume you are wearing an ipod. Non-white earbuds would cost you like 10$ and could save you from theft. Because if one guy is walking down the street with black earbuds and one guy is walking with white ipod earbuds the crook will automatically pick the person with the white earbuds since there is a 99% chance of getting an ipod from that person. You would think that people would have caught onto this now and everyone would be wearing some other color of earbuds but no, apparently people are so stupid that they MUST wear the white earbuds.

Personally if I am out and wearing an MP3 player (now keep in mind I own a sandisk player thats worth about 15$) I wear old sony headphones from the 1990's. I assume people just think I am listening to a walkman.

There is also the distraction element, in that people who listen to ipods are distracted, so that makes them easier targets.

Then there is the fact that ipods are not linked to that person in any way, its just a music player, its not like a cell phone that can be traced back to a company and it cannot be deactivated or bricked by the company if you call and report it stolen like a cellphone can. Even certain GPS units have software locks on them now so that they cannot be stolen as easily.

Honestly if you leave your valuables in sight in your car while you are out and about you are just asking for it. If your carrying around items that have a high resell value and a high demand you should be very cautious while using them in public and while carrying them around.

Between the ease of selling, the high resell value of ipods,, huge demand for the item, the fact that they are not connected to the person using them in any way, the fact that people are distracted while listening to them, and the fact that wearing white earbuds is like holding up a sign that says mug me, it creates a recipie for disaster and theft!

With that being said I wonder how many incidents there have been of people ripping Nintendo DS units out of the hands of the children that are playing them. Easy, resellable, not connected to the person, and in-demand..

Stupid is as stupid does

I can see their point and I have a solution. Encourage people to watch their i-pods closely.

Oh and no one is blaming the ipods themselves on the crime that'd be like blaming money and/or wallets

In 2003. We noticed that there was an increase in shark attacks. The same year ice cream sales went up. There's our problem right?

oh how I love the blame culture..... everything its the cause of the problem but the problem....