The New York Times has yet another article about iPod subway crime: some people are becoming so afraid of riding the subway with their iPods that they are buying different types of earphones (the white earbuds are just too obvious), stashing their iPods deep into their bags and otherwise holding on to them for dear life. According to the New York Police Department, the steep increase in subway crime this year was "driven almost entirely by a sharp rise in robberies and thefts of cellphones and especially of iPods, which have become a totem of prosperous urban life."

The numbers are a bit deceptive, though: there were zero iPod thefts reported in 2004 and already 50 iPod abductions through the first four months of this year. Gothamist has more on why status gizmos make New Yorkers targets.

With this disturbing upswing in subway crime in mind, the MTA is now getting into the fray, with a series of safety announcements for riders. (Although it seems at times that the MTA is just as worried about their crime figures as they are about people actually losing their iPods).