Well pictures are worth a million words so here you go:

That is 11 yr old Ellie Stanborough (in Liverpool England) holding her one month old ipod. It started to make a hissing noise and smoking some when her dad tossed it outside just in time to watch it blow up and shoot 10 ft in the air. Guess what she is not alone either. There are a number of ppl that are having overheating issues with their ipods. The family tried to get a refund for the ipod but once they got a call and a letter from a executive offering a settlement for only the cost of the ipod and requiring them to sign a confidentiality contract that was so ridged that they said forget it.

You can read about it more here:

Apple tried to silence owner of exploding iPod with gagging order

Mr Stanborough contacted Apple and Argos, where he had bought the device for £162. After being passed around several departments, he spoke to an Apple executive on the telephone. As a result of the conversation, Apple sent a letter to Mr Stanborough denying liability but offering a refund.

The letter also stated that, in accepting the money, Mr Stanborough was to "agree that you will keep the terms and existence of this settlement agreement completely confidential”, and that any breach of confidentiality "may result in Apple seeking injunctive relief, damages and legal costs against the defaulting persons or parties”.

"I thought it was a very disturbing letter,” said Mr Stanborough, who is self-employed and works in electronic security. He refused to sign it.

"They're putting a life sentence on myself, my daughter and Ellie's mum, not to say anything to anyone. If we inadvertently did say anything, no matter what, they would take litigation against us. I thought that was absolutely appalling.

"We didn't ask for compensation, we just asked for our money back,” he added.

yikes my kids have a few ipods and I'll admit they never blew up (unless you count washing and drying one but that was totally my fault - darn those pants pockets)