With all the iPods that Apple manufacturers, some of them are bound to not work according to design, that’s why there’s a warranty and most Apple stores will replace a malfunctioning iPod on the spot.  Things are a little more serious when the most popular digital audio player on the planet start spontaneously combusting.

It started with an iPod Nano in Japan that began emitting sparks while it was charging which then ignited the Lithium-Ion battery pack.  Lithium-Ion batteries do not respond well to overheating/sparks; more so than other battery types.  More than 400,000 of these iPod Nanos were sold in Japan.

Apple did not immediately report the incident and is now under investigation from Japan’s trade ministry.  The iPod Touch has a similar problem.

Two reports of an iPod Touch burning from the inside out were reported to Engadget.  However, the low quality nature of the photographs leaves a lot to the imagination.  One owner of the offending units wrote Apple and received a replacement unit as well as $50 to the Apple Store.

In these cases, all the iPods were being charged after reporting a low battery which then proceeded to overheat and combust in various ways.  Whatever the cause, Apple had better figure it out because I’ve become rather attached to my iPod Touch.  My luck would be that it does so just one day after the warranty expires and my experiences with Apple Store support have been mostly bad.

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Entry was posted on Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at 8:03 am under Uncategorized, iPod Touch.  Print This Post

Read more entries by Jonathan Schlaffer.