Consumer Woes: Exploding iPod

Are you afraid of your iPod exploding? Buyer's beware.

Dale had his iPod plugged in to charge, using the USB cable that came with his iPod and attaching it to his PC. After around 10 minutes, the iPod began to produce a sizzling sound. He looked at his iPod, just in time to see an explosion of sparks and spewing smoke and immediately disconnected the device.

In most alleged "exploding" iPod cases this is the end of the story. Not in Dale's case. The iPod continued to smoke and spark while exuding a sooty substance. This went on for several minutes, causing a small fire on his table. He extinguished the fire before any harm could be done to his laptop. Eventually, the iPod calmed, although it was extremely hot for many minutes following.

Dale called the Apple hotline and the tech told him he would immediately be granted a new iPod at his local store, regardless of how old Dale's iPod was. When he went in to the local Apple store, no one would replace the iPod. The GM said there was NO WAY the iPod could be replaced, because it was not under warranty and there was no way Apple could ever really know what happened.

It turns out Dale's iPod will be replaced, and the GM at Apple apologizes for Apple and the tech, and for how the situation was handled. Read the full article here.