iPod nano sparks bedroom fire, no humans harmed

Oddly enough, this isn't the first time we've seen a product proudly designed in Cupertino erupt, but it's pretty safe to say this story could have had a much more tragic ending. Reportedly, an iPod nano owner recently awoke to a blaring fire alarm around 2:00AM, only to find his beloved PMP wrapped in flames on the bedroom floor. Thankfully, the fire was tiny enough to be extinguished without any major trouble, and no substantial damage of property or human flesh was tallied. As of now, we've no idea if the unit simply exploded or if surrounding circumstances are at least partly to blame, but you can bet your bottom dollar that be sleeping with one eye open (and on our media players) tonight.

[Thanks, Sandy]

[TheSpecialist @ Mar 8th 2008 11:32AM]

*Sniff sniff*

I smell a lawsuit

[YoMomma @ Mar 8th 2008 11:52AM]

why?

just because the ipod nano exploded?

No harm was done except for the burned ipod.

[Khris @ Mar 8th 2008 12:03PM]

Nope.....because he's a moron that knows the only way he's ever going to make something of himself in life is to hopefully become a victim, and therefore winner of a lawsuit.

Lawyers aren't the only people who need to be wiped off the earth.....all of the little scum suckers that rely on them too.

[m @ Mar 8th 2008 12:19PM]

a lawsuit would not be totally unjustified. it's one of the consumer's only forms of self-protection, and i'm glad we have it. singling out apple isn't really fair; we've all seen enough rechargeable devices burnt to a crisp to know that they are, in general, potentially dangerous. somebody might die in a battery fire eventually. if the government isn't interested in regulating them, and industry isn't in a hurry to come up with something better and safer, what else is the consumer supposed to do? lawsuits are one of the best ways to light a fire under the collective corporate ass.

[CaptCaveman @ Mar 8th 2008 1:45PM]

I wouldn't sue either. But I would want the iPod replaced. Oh and anything that was damaged to be taken care of.
Now if Apple wanted to go that extra mile and give me a iPhone instead, along with a few years of free cell service. Well, I wouldn't turn them down. I wouldn't want to be rude or anything...

[michas_pi @ Mar 8th 2008 2:21PM]

*Sniff sniff*

I smell a burning iPod

[snitch @ Mar 8th 2008 5:27PM]

Well if you look at the rest of the pics you can clearly see that the part of the cables that did not get burn are strip, lol. i'll say any player can catch fire if you short it!!!!! come on guys this is the oldest trick in the book, throw us the next one

[nonamo @ Mar 8th 2008 11:33AM]

...no humans harmed?

What about the animals? :S

[m @ Mar 8th 2008 12:11PM]

i think they're just anthropomorphizing the ipod.

[Prokanda @ Mar 8th 2008 1:53PM]

oh.. animals were harmed... like the bloody-rare Outback Steakhouse burger with bacon on it that he ate afterwords to treat himself to not waking up in flames.. tragedy averted and tasty animals devoured. mmm. =Þ

[Shunpike @ Mar 8th 2008 5:00PM]

They aren't anthropomorphising it, that would be to make it look human, something that even a burnt iPod can't manage!

[m @ Mar 8th 2008 12:10PM]

i will take this as a reminder not to fall asleep with the ipod or phone in the bed-- as i often do.

[Raymond @ Mar 8th 2008 2:11PM]

Try sleeping on a waterbed from now on. If the iPod catches fire and burns through the bed, at least it'll put itself out. :p

[Kraig R. @ Mar 8th 2008 6:54PM]

Finally! An excuse to get a waterbed!

[Bad Beaver @ Mar 8th 2008 11:47AM]

In acari news, an empire perished in the flames tonight.

[owl @ Mar 8th 2008 11:50AM]

At this point I think there must be a cottage industry springing up up people that rig their electronics to burn up or they go into retailers claiming the box of the product they just purchased was empty.

[LC @ Mar 8th 2008 12:42PM]

If so, then they risk criminal prosecution for fraud when the iPod is examined and is found to have been deliberately burned.

[tiuk @ Mar 8th 2008 12:01PM]

Here's my take, for what it's worth:
Shit happens. You could have the best engineered product in the world, but somewhere along the line there's the possibility for manufacturing defects (assuming that's what actually caused this, and not some circumstance that we aren't aware of). Combine the possibility of defect with the ridiculous number of these things (iPod nanos) that are manufactured, and you pretty much have to expect this kind of thing to happen every now and then. At least nobody was hurt.

Now, I'm sure if the person decided to sue they would probably get a settlement, because it's just easier for Apple that way.

[aj_robins @ Mar 8th 2008 1:18PM]

Yeah, defects in manufacturing and components do occur. For example, although the above photo looks like some battery-related issue (something different from the following), a cracked surface-mount capacitor can short out. If the capacitor is used as a bypass capacitor (for example), a fire could conceivably be caused, as rechargeable batteries can typically source large amounts of current. If you want more details on how surface-mount capacitors fail, see here:

http://www.ami.ac.uk/courses/topics/0179_fmcc/index.html

[Andy @ Mar 8th 2008 12:17PM]

This is rather disconcerting as I sleep while listening to my ipod... the thought of the thing catching on fire while it's sitting next to me in my extremely flammable bed is a bit worrying.

[Alex R @ Mar 8th 2008 4:45PM]

So do I! I thought I was the only person who did! Anyway, I usually wake up mummified in headphone wires and the iPod has gone somewhere it shouldn't be. I would be mighty upset if it caught fire THERE.

[SMARTALIENQT @ Mar 8th 2008 8:36PM]

I thought I was the only one who did that, too! I sleep with it a lot, and find it wrapped around my neck or miraculously unharmed after I slept with my full weight on it... Next article: Person strangled by iPod earbuds. Question: A couple years back, wasn't there a recall of laptops because their batteries would catch on fire?

[Abuzar @ Mar 8th 2008 10:38PM]

You should be more worried about your ears. Constantly being abused like that wont give them enough time to recover. I think four hours in a row is the max before you start getting hearing damage.

[HyperHacker @ Mar 8th 2008 11:25PM]

People, this is what speakers are for.

[Andy @ Mar 9th 2008 1:40AM]

The only problem with speakers is sometimes I don't want to blare my music throughout the house. I listen to music at a reasonable level with the earbuds so I'm not worried about hearing loss....

[SMARTALIENQT @ Mar 27th 2008 6:42PM]

Actually, I listen to my music at the lowest possible level (it's to *help me sleep*), and there is only about 90 minutes of songs on any given playlist on my iPod, so my ears are just fine.

[Chris McFall @ Mar 8th 2008 12:17PM]

Does that look like a case on the iPod? Apple tell you to take it out of the case when you charge it.

[bi0hazard @ Mar 8th 2008 12:21PM]

sleep with one eye open, gripping your pillow tight.

[dvsbstrd @ Mar 8th 2008 1:46PM]

EXIT LIIIIIIIIIGHT, ENTER NIAHIIIIIIGHT

[michas_pi @ Mar 8th 2008 2:22PM]

TAAAAAAAKE MY HAAAAAAND

[Alex R @ Mar 8th 2008 4:47PM]

Off to never never land!
Dooo, doo, doo, do, doooo, dooo, do, doo, dooo doo!

[John @ Mar 8th 2008 5:07PM]

Seriously.. this site should be renamed iGadget with all the apple stories posted..

[bi0hazard @ Mar 8th 2008 6:27PM]

@ John
just out of curiosity, what does that have to do with Enter Sandman?

Anyways, maybe there are a lot of apple posts because apple makes gadgets and thats what this site is about. But i'll admit that there should be some more variety.

[Manny @ Mar 8th 2008 1:21PM]

Apple owners beware. If you can't remove the battery yourself then your spidey senses should tell you that something is wrong!!! Burn babe burn. Stevie like WTF? Are batteries that top secret?

[Ron J @ Mar 12th 2008 3:21PM]

Odd though, I dont keep both cables wrapped up when plugged in and charging, and it also looks like it was near a receipt of some type- which is heat sensitive which very well could have been the source of the fire. Looking at the other photos it looked more burt on the outside.

[Mike @ Mar 8th 2008 1:52PM]

Update: still haven't found a manufacturer to build my SmokeShutoff strip designed to prevent the fires caused by things left plugged in -- it turns off whatever is plugged into it at the first sign of smoke -- like the dozens of fires I've blogged on SmokeShutoff.com caused by rechargers.

The manufacturers push the envelope to brag how fast they recharge, they've got fine print warning don't leave them plugged in unattended, and the public is surprised when they flame out.

[w00t @ Mar 8th 2008 1:55PM]

Wow... I'm always using my iPhone in bed, and often have it right next to me as I sleep since I've fallen asleep whist reading/watching something or was listening to music...

Oh well I'm sure it won't catch fire... I hope :)

[whot @ Mar 8th 2008 2:35PM]

was it charging? playing music? on? off? did the cat push it down? surely it doesn't just burst into flames just like that, does it?

[Neoprimal @ Mar 8th 2008 2:41PM]

It could have been worse. We all downplay stuff like this because it hasn't happened to us or the outcome isn't horrible - I've seen people make jokes even when the outcome IS horrible. In the scenerio that this case IS real, that's pretty scary don't you think?. In the real world, say it happened to you...look through your home and see what's at stake. Wife? Husband? Children? Parents? I live in a home with smoke detectors AND a very sensitive fire sprinkler system. If my Zen were to spontaneously combust...I wouldn't burn up (knock on wood), but even a small fire would trigger my sprinkler system. There goes most if not all my electronics (since they're 'strategically placed above the Media area and certain 'cat5-phone networked/coaxial cable/this is where devices will probably be' areas. I'm sure there are more places built like this and I'm sure that many don't have these features. Now imagine a kid leaves it charging by their bedside or on their bed and it catches fire...that's a scenerio for a possible loss of life as well as a home fire.
When we buy these devices, at least when I do - hell, I expect them to malfunction at some point....but I don't accept that 'shit happens' so it's ok that every now and again, they are in the alright to create or cause a fire. I expect that the manufacturer has done everything in its power to make sure this thing won't start a fire. Notice, certain devices even with rechargeable batteries and connection to outlets have NEVER started a fire. The problem of these things catching fire seems to be as of late, where companies are sourcing really cheap electronics in order to turn a bigger profit. It's up to manuf. to do whatever it takes to make sure these things don't go nova...even if it makes the product cost a bit more to make and the profit a bit less at the same price point.

[Steffen Jobbs @ Mar 8th 2008 2:43PM]

An iPod nano is a fairly low-power device. Something radical must have happened to it for it to short out and start a fire. I keep my 5G iPod in an iHome IH8 device sitting right next to my bed. I think I may move it now. I'd hate to have it combust while I'm sleeping next to it.

I just checked the iHome unit and the case is cool and so is the iPod, so neither of them seem likely to cause any fires.

[CurtisStreamline @ Mar 8th 2008 2:46PM]

This isn't unusual for ipods. I'm currently on my 4th video ipod in less than a year. The first one melted while charging and would have caught fire had I not caught it in time. My second did the same thing. Do some searches and you'll find that this tends to happen more than it should.

[Tony @ Mar 8th 2008 6:37PM]

Wow, why do you keep that POS in your home?

Not to hate on iPods, but if you're so unlucky that 50% of all iPods you've owned catch on fire, get rid of it!

[pscs @ Mar 8th 2008 3:02PM]

i like the way you guys said "no humans harmed"... haha

[David @ Mar 8th 2008 3:07PM]

It's kind of sad how everyone on the forum he posted was screaming sue, that's just pathetic. That nano looked weird for some reason =/ I wonder if he left it sitting on carpet or something? Could have caused it to overheat.

[RIMM Jobs @ Mar 8th 2008 3:09PM]

No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

[temejin @ Mar 8th 2008 3:18PM]

More Fud.
Looks like the point of origin is the battery. Guess what LiPo batteries are prone to pop rather dramatically. I replaced a gen2 Nano battery that had bloated and lost the ability to hold a charge. No I didn't send it to Apple, no I didn't throw it away, I just lifted the cover cut and twisted two wires. I took the replaced LiPo and purposely overcharged the bloated battery. The result was the same impressive little explosion.
Don't blame the device. Blame the nature of the batteries and the lack of knowledge of the users. Just another example of piss poor web journalism.

[iAurel @ Mar 8th 2008 3:19PM]

look at the photo again precisely, the black form factor has the click wheel not in the center, but slightly on the side. i doubt that it is nano, possibly Sandisk . ?? any thoughts?

[stevesreed @ Mar 8th 2008 3:30PM]

good point. It does not look like the internals of a Nano , based on all the teardown pictures available on the web:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/06/09/20/materials_cost_for_apples_4gb_ipod_nano_estimated_at_72_u.html

http://www.hojohnlee.com/weblog/archives/2006/10/02/v2-ipod-nano-teardown/

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/09/19/apples_new_ipod_nano_sports_fattest_profit_margins_yet.html

[mushrooshi @ Mar 8th 2008 3:33PM]

It is, infact, a nano. A gen 2 to be exact.

http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2005/0908/nano30.jpg

I assume the clickwheel thing is actually a clicking speaker.

[mushrooshi @ Mar 8th 2008 3:33PM]

I meant gen1.