Bust open them piggy banks, shoppers; 'tis the season to buy iPods, fa la la la la something something etc. Current marketing data suggests that every U.S. resident over the age of four will buy between two and six of the little silver-'n'-white doohickeys before the year is out because they're just so gosh-darned nifty. There's just one problem: with demand this strong, what happens if the supply goes bye-bye? We imagine there'd be chaos, looting, and maybe even a little-- dare we say it?-- jaywalking. But Apple wouldn't let something like that ever happen, would it?

Well, don't be so sure. Faithful viewer bo tipped us off to a Financial Times article which makes alarmist claims about the iPod being "in short supply for Christmas," both here in the states and in certain foreign markets like the United Kingdom. According to FT, Apple "appears to have underestimated the surge in demand for its players," and allegedly "most stores in New York have sold out of the larger capacity models and do not expect to get more before the holidays." Panic! Panic NOW!!

Actually, though, this is the first we'd heard of an imminent holiday iPod shortage, and given that such a thing is likely to incite bloody riots all across the nation and really screw up our morning commute, we decided to do some actual investigation for a change. (We know what you're thinking: the Apple Rumor Union is going to fine us again. Not to worry, folks-- this time we're entrusting our fates to justice, decency, and incriminating photographs of the local union boss.) The New York stores were closed by the time we got onto this, but we burned some free night & weekend minutes calling random Apple retail stores in the three other time zones in the continental U.S. to do an inventory check: of the five stores we called in five different states, four had all three iPod configurations in stock, and the last store had 10s and 40s, but had just run out of 20s. Meanwhile, the online Apple Store currently lists all three models as shipping the "same business day." Maybe it's just us, but that doesn't sound like much of a drought.

So if there is a shortage, maybe it's just in New York; FT doesn't cite any other examples, and the article was written by somebody in New York, so for all we know the guy went to three CompUSA stores trying to buy an iPod for his fiancée, had no luck, and then wrote an article about it. All we can say for sure is, at least for now, it doesn't look like you'll have any trouble getting your two to six iPods at your nearest Apple retail store-- and if you do, there's always the Apple Store online. So you can probably relax at least enough to step in off of the ledge. Still, we recommend that you get your orders in ASAP, just in case FT knows something we don't. And if an iPod shortage does occur, for the sake of all that's holy, stay inside. People were losing entire limbs at the height of the Tickle Me Elmo crisis of 1996.