And if your iPod doesn't deafen you, it might just kill your computer. Well, I'm exaggerating slightly, but following the news that promotional MP3 players being given away by McDonalds in Japan have a virus on them, news today that certain video-enabled iPods are carrying the RavMonE.exe virus which can lower the security settings on a Windows operating system which, of course, then potentially lets other viruses through.
Apple confirmed the problem yesterday, but stressed that it only affects video iPods shipped after 12 Sep, and of them less than 1% should be carrying the virus. They added that the virus should be picked up by most anti-virus systems, and that they have only had 25 complaints to date, while taking a little dig at their rival Microsoft claiming that it's partly their fault for designing an operating system that is susceptible to such viruses (which is a bit cheeky, though IT types do relish any opportunities to diss Windows). The computer firm said in a statement: "As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves, for not catching it".