Tuesday, April 19,2005 @ 10:50am
iPod devotees rocked by thefts
Thefts of digital music players are rising, according to police in the Washington D.C. area. Earlier this month a man was critically wounded when he was stabbed and robbed of his digital music player as he walked near the National Zoo, the Washington Post is reporting. "Fences," who traffic in stolen property, are putting out the word that they are in the market for the players, said Detective David Swinson. "Burglars are taking things they can carry with them, and iPods fall into that category. They are not going to take something they don't have a market for or they don't think they have a market for." But victims of iPod theft aren't taking the loss of their players lightly, as they often form strong emotional bonds with their music libraries, and hence, players. "Everybody has a lot of memories they associate with music, and musical taste is usually very important to people," said Anita Boss, a forensic psychologist in Alexandria, Va., who has counseled crime victims. "You actually have a piece of identity theft here."