Never let it be said that Apple never gets around to fixing its messes.

Jobs' Mob has gotten around to recalling its iPods which had a nasty habit of catching fire. If you have one of these pesky beasts all you have to do is take it into your favourite Apple store and it will be replaced free of charge. Sounds great exepect we are talking about the first gen iPod nanos which Apple was already forced by Korea to do a recall on in 2009.

It seems that while the Korean authorities were on the ball about flaming iPod nanos, the US authories were a lot laxer and so Apple did nothing about it. Now according to an email just sent to registered owners and notice posted on its replacement program site inform users the affected units were sold between September 2005 and December 2006 Given that Apple products are supposed to only last a couple of years, if you have a nano which is still working and has not caught fire then you have yourself a rare example of a well made toy.

Unfortunately, according to Apple, it is more likely to catch fire as it gets older so you probably will want to get a replacement.