It took more than 7-months for KIRO 7 Consumer Investigator Amy Clancy to get her hands on documents concerning Apple's iPods from the Consumer Product Safety Commission because Apple's lawyers filed exemption after exemption. In the end, the CPSC released more than 800 pages which reveal, for the very first time, a comprehensive look that shows, on a number of occasions, iPods have suddenly burst into flames, started to smoke, and even burned their owners.

Within that 800 pages of information, 15 minor burn and fire related incidents reported by iPod owners are discussed. KIRO goes on to describe several of these incidents and how Apple knew that there were defective batteries out there, yet did nothing about it. With over 170 million iPods in circulation, it's not surprising that Apple is trying to keep things quiet. A recall would come at a huge expense—and with that amount of product on the shelves, there is bound to be a few anomalies here and there. The CPSC agrees with this point, claiming that there are not enough cases thus far to warrant any further action.

It probably doesn't matter anyway. As Fake Steve points out, the Seattle connection points to a Microsoft conspiracy. And the burns? Masochists with cigarettes looking for a quick buck most likely. Besides, even if iPods did burn you, you still wouldn't buy a Zune. [KIRO 7 via Fake Steve / Image via Daily HaHa]

The iPod was turned off inside his pants when it popped, making him feel a "burning sensation." His pants were on fire, literally, the complaint says:

Plaintiff A.V. immediately ran to the bathroom and took off his burning pants with the assistance of a friend. On said date and at said time, the Apple iTouch had burned through Plaintiff A.V.'s pants pocket and melted through his nylon/spandex underwear, burning his leg.

Ars Technica thinks this may not be technically possible, since nylon melts at 374 degress Fahrenheit and there's no way the kid would have not noticed the increase on temperature. On the other side, they argue the explosion could have been violent enough to cause the fire without the kid noticing.

Fire, schmfire, whatever. What worries me here is a kid wearing nylon/spandex underwear. [Ars Technica. Image courtesy of Brad Gillette]

Apple says the issue has been traced back to a single battery supplier, and affects less than 0.001 percent of first-gen nanos. So if yours is bubbling or you're using it as a space heater for your pet mouse, hit up AppleCare for a replacement. There's a big question here though: If Japanese officials hadn't gotten involved, would they have made this announcement? I don't think so, even though it's not like exploding iPod nanos are an undocumented phenomenon. [Cnet]

Luckily, neither MJair or his PS3 were harmed, but the source of the fire seems to have been his first-gen iPod nano. Unfortunately, the nano was not as robust as the iPhone that took on a semi, meaning its thin, MP3 playing days are now truly up. Unless we want to go the way of the nano, we really should replace the batteries in our own fire alarm. [Niketalk; Thanks, Vince]

iMP3 [via The MP3 Players]