Uh-oh, folks-- miniPod fever shows no signs of abating, and apparently Apple is having more than a little trouble keeping up with demand. Faithful viewer MiniMe forwarded us a message he'd received from the Apple Store informing him that an "unexpected supply delay" has caused the expected shipment of his silver miniPod to slide to March 22nd. The really harrowing bit, though, is this: "If we do not hear from you or we cannot ship your order by the revised date above, we are required by federal law to cancel your order and issue a prompt refund, and we will do so."

Wow, just how far behind do you have to be before the feds force you to require your customers to confirm they still want their stuff? And where the heck were they when we waited literally 15 months for our My So-Called Life lunchbox to show up from Another Universe? (Given how long it took to get that thing, it really must have shipped from another universe.)

Anyway, given that Apple can't seem to increase its supply to a reasonable level, maybe the company should consider reducing demand-- you know, hire the Neistat Brothers to spray-paint "iPOD MINI'S NONREPLACEABLE BATTERY SMELLS LIKE FEET" all over the place, or something. Or better yet, why not transfer some of that demand to a different product line by increasing the appeal of the miniPod's big brother again? After all, Apple sold 730,000 of those hulking white behemoths last quarter before the miniPod started driving people into a frenzy. Surely a fourth-generation iPod upgrade could distract the masses from the miniPod at least a little.

Or even a lot, if AppleInsider is correct. According to the site's "reliable sources," plans to unveil the 4G iPod are already underway, and the changes are a doozy. In addition to the top-of-the-line model boasting a 50 GB hard drive ("12,500 songs in your pocket" doesn't quite have the right ring to it, but whatever), the new iPods are rumored to feature a "2-inch color screen for displaying photos" and "a video output jack that will allow users to connect their iPods to television sets," presumably for the display of the same photos and-- dare we dream?-- video. (Memo to Apple: toss in an on-'Pod color Visualizer and we're in heaven.) Oh, and the controls are going to be miniPodified, too, so 4G iPods should have the same spiffy Click Wheel as their diminutive siblings. Sign us up!

But when? AI won't say, but it does point out that the iTunes Music Store's anniversary is just around the corner. And remember, the 'Pod's last major revision (not counting disk bumps and software upgrades) also took place that day, so the product line really is due for an overhaul. Here's hoping Apple can ride out the miniPod hysteria until the new iPods can stem some of the rabid demand. Of course, that doesn't help unless Apple can supply enough new iPods, too, but c'mon, who thinks that far in advance?