You're watching an iPod being taken.

In an instant, it's gone.

New York City police detective Richard Kenney admits that if it's happened to you, as things stand now, you're pretty much out of luck.

Chris Hansen: What are the realistic chances that you can recover somebody's stolen iPod?

Det. Kenney: Out of all the investigations I've done, I've only been involved in one case…

Hansen: One case?

Kenney: … where we recovered two iPods.

But detective Kenney thinks he'd be more successful if he could use some of the iPod's own high-tech capabilities to track them down.

Obviously most iPods that are stolen aren't new in the box, they're like this one. Police like detective Kenney imagine a crime-fighting scenario like this:

If this iPod was reported stolen, the real owner could supply his name, address and the serial number of the device to authorities or to Apple.

Then, if a thief tried connecting the stolen iPod, a central database could detect its serial number -- or other personal data embedded in that machine -- to immediately flag it as stolen.  

And if the thief supplied personal information when he tried buying songs from the iTunes database, or by answering other questions on-line, he could be located and arrested.

But since we aren't Apple, and we don't have our own iPod database, how could we possibly test the theory?

We'd have to have a plan.

First, we went shopping. We bought dozens of iPods. These were iPods that we'd use as bait to be stolen -- or deliberately lost.

We hired a software company, Blackfin Tech, to help us. 

Jefferson Jewell: We're hoping to collect information that will enable us to pinpoint the location of a stolen iPod!

Jefferson Jewell runs Blackfin. His solution?

To simply demonstrate whether an iPod has the capability of being tracked, we'd create our own database -- just like Apple has.

We'd try to get basic information from whoever plugged it in, in this case from people the iPods didn't belong to.

How would we get the information? Instead of putting used iPods out as bait, we'd use new ones that were brand new in the box.

To a thief, they'd be exactly like the real thing.

Except for this: with a new iPod, the first thing you normally do is download Apple iTunes software, which allows you to buy and download music as well as provide basic information about the user to Apple.

To get our bait iPods to work, whoever takes them will have to install a disc. What they won't know is that when they click 'I Agree' on a licensing agreement that appears on-screen, they'll be consenting to provide some of the same kind of information they provide Apple to Dateline.

Jewell: The information ranges everything from first name, last name to mobile phone number, home phone number, home address … what your MySpace handle is. All sorts of things.

Now it was time to see if our plan would work.

First, how do thieves usually steal iPods?

We'd seen store surveillance video of thieves in Minnesota and even seen an airline pilot who authorities said was caught on tape stealing a passenger's iPod in a Florida security line.

And NYPD detective Richard Kenney says while some iPods are stolen in burglaries...

Kenney: Generally speaking, the most common is just people leaving them lying around. And someone lifting it off a table.

So that's how we decided to get our iPods taken -- by just leaving them some place unattended.

First stop? Berkeley, Calif., where police told us there'd been a rash of iPod thefts and robberies near Berkeley High School..

Producer: All right, let's give this a shot…

Our Dateline producer places the brand new iPod, still in the box, on the dashboard of our convertible.

Incredibly within seconds a group of students comes along and our iPod is gone.

We put out another iPod. To their credit, dozens of students walk past without taking it. But then, watch these two: they walk past our car, see the iPod, and soon after, one turns around to grab it from the dash.

As they walk away, they look pleased with themselves and their new stolen iPod.

But how happy will they be if we can find them?

Next stop, Fisherman's Wharf, across San Francisco Bay. We left iPods in shopping bags on benches and walked away as if the owner had momentarily left them behind or as if the bag had been forgotten.

What would you think if you found something like this in a crowded tourist area?

Would you think the iPod didn't belong to anyone?

Watch this young man. With our producer just a few feet away, he sits down, biding his time. And minutes later, watch his hand as he grabs the iPod before he stands up and walks away.

Does he think he's found an iPod? Or does he know he's doing something wrong?

But teenagers wouldn't be the only ones taking our iPods. This woman notices our bag and soon sits down next to it. After a few seconds, she takes the iPod and places it in her shopping bag before hurrying away.

So far, four iPods: missing in action in the Bay area. But before we try to track them down, we plant more.

Next, we travel to several malls in northern New Jersey, where we watch as this young woman takes our iPod left atop a car in a shopping bag and skips happily away.

Remember, detective Kenney said most iPods are taken when they are inadvertently left somewhere.  So we go inside the mall and leave our iPods on benches as if we're a shopper who's simply walked away. Will anyone turn the iPods into lost and found? Or will they take our iPods home?

First, we watch as this young man grabs a black canvas bag we put down bearing an iPod. In case you're wondering if he understands the moral issues in what he's doing, he does return the tote bag to lost and found, but he takes the iPod that was inside.

Again and again, people walk away with our iPods.

This woman doesn't even hesitate. She grabs a shopping bag with our iPod inside, turns around and is gone.

Our unattended iPods seem to be like magnets.

How would you feel if you went to a food court in a mall, got up to buy a snack and left your new iPod at your seat and this happened?

Check out this couple as they take the iPod from our table. 

It's enough to make you lose your appetite.

We even see young children, like this boy who takes our bag and then hands it to his mother.

We should point out that not everyone in every city we went to took the iPods left by Dateline. Time and again, people sat down next to the iPods and did nothing. Others, like this mall employee, were curious enough to look in the bag but when they  realized the value of the iPod inside waved down security. They did the right thing, but many others did not.

We move on to Las Vegas, where more iPods are taken.

Again, we hit the food court in a mall and leave the iPod on a table,  as if a shopper had simply put it down, then walked away briefly to grab lunch. Minutes later, this young man appears, finds our iPod, and after a brief discussion with a friend, disappears with it --  even though security guards are standing no more than a few feet away.

Then, in the same mall, we leave an iPod on a bench. Watch this man find the iPod, discard the shopping bag it came in, and nonchalantly walk away with his female companion.

Would we ever see this iPod again?

We'd soon find out--but there would be more iPods to disappear.

We visit the historic Fremont district of Las Vegas.

Watch this woman. She looks at the bag, walks around it for several minutes, apparently checking to see if anyone is watching. And then she makes her move.

She grabs the bag and disappears into the crowd.

And this man did the same. He moves in as all the tourists let down their guard, watching a loud light show overhead. He takes the unattended bag with our iPod inside and casually saunters away.

Finally, we come to our last stop: Santa Monica, Calif. We leave shopping bags with iPods inside on benches at the Third Street promenade.

It wasn't long before they're all gone. Taken…

...by this man out for a walk with his dog…

...this maintenance man…

...and finally, this woman, who wastes no time picking up the bag.

Watching so many people walk away with iPods that didn't belong to them didn't seem to surprise NYPD detective Richard Kenney.

Hansen: What do you suppose it is about iPods that has made them such a target for thieves?

Det. Kenney: They're very easy to sell because they're so small. People can hold them in their hands and sell them at street level.

Now, we'd had a total of 20 iPods taken by people they didn't belong to. 

If one of these was your iPod, would you want to know who had it?

Would you want to know who was dancing down the street with your headphones in their ears?

Remember: none of the people who took our iPods realize that when they install the software they're not just going to be supplying information to Apple.

They're going to be talking to Dateline.

Hidden camera

Hansen: You recognize those guys?

Student: Yeah. That's me!

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