Think we're above recycling an old plotline? Then you're new around here, aren't you? Consider this: we've covered the epidemic of subway iPod theft at least twice-- once to discuss the phenomenon occurring in London, and then a year later to address the same problem in New York. Well, the third time's the charm, right? And we were all set to do the whole song and dance over again now that the Boston Herald reports that iPod theft "has become so common" in our own town of (duh) Boston that "MBTA police have created a new crime category just to keep track of the thefts." Then again, authorities claim that Boston's iPod-related subway crimes haven't gotten violent like they have in New York, and what kind of ratings can we expect to pull in with nonviolent crime? We have to think about Sweeps Month, right?

So instead, we're still going to rehash the same old story (it's practically mandatory in television writing, and we don't want another warning from the union), only we're sticking with New York as the setting because faithful viewer Paul HR dug up a juicy morsel or two on the subject over at The New York Times. We've already touched on how iPod-jackings account for a stunning percentage of subway crime in that city; major felonies rose 18.3 percent since the year before, yet if the iPod thefts (and the slightly less prevalent cellphone thefts) are ignored, that figure would actually have dropped by 3 percent from the year-ago period. The new development is that iPod theft is now such a huge problem in the Big Apple that the Metropolitan Transit Authority is actually going to be running "a series of safety advertisements" aimed at teaching iPod users to protect themselves from becoming another statistic.

What kind of advertisements, you ask? Well, apparently one tells passengers that "earphones are a giveaway" and that ditching the trademark white earbuds for less iPod-specific ones could help you "protect your device." We can't say for sure, but we suspect that another might warn against attracting attention to your device by dousing yourself in black paint from head to toe and dancing with your iPod in front of a solid brightly-colored background. Take it from us-- that's sage advice. Learn from our mistakes.

In any case, the NYC Police Department's chief of transportation is stopping short of banning iPod use outright... which is good, because while many of them are far more vigilant about keeping their iPods out of plain sight, none of the iPod-toting subway passengers interviewed by the Times "seemed willing to abandon their personal soundtracks altogether." And get this: the Times claims that, based on police statistics, "it does not appear that the criminals are reselling the music players"-- in other words, they're not fencing them, they're swiping them to use themselves. So the passengers want them, the thieves want them-- it's official, everybody wants an iPod. Was there ever any doubt?