Lost-and-found question.

[hawing]

You know what? My S.O.'s family hasn't asked us to bring any food to Christmas Eve dinner this year - which definitely has its up side since we have the farthest drive of the whole group, every year, but also means I don't have an opportunity to seek bf.net opinions like I did in the great relish tray thread of 2010.

 

So I have a non-food, non-Christmas question instead: How long is long enough to retain a lost-and-found iPod before finding a way to reuse it? Someone left one in my library on October 1. The battery still had life so we found the owner's first name, but no other identifying information. UW-Madison's directory allows first-name-only searches, so we contacted all four students with this person's first name to see if they were missing an iPod. Only one replied, and it was a returning-adult student who kind of harrumphed about how in her day, when people lost items they actually tried to find them. (That was entertaining.)

 

Do you think we've made enough of an effort? I mean, it's been 2 1/2 months. My guess is that someone realized her iPod was gone, shrugged and said, "oh well, now I can get a new one." So I'm *this close* to taking it home, copying my Christmas/holiday music onto it, and playing it in the circulation office while my students study for exams.

[jerichoholicninja]

I think you should be in the clear. If someone hasn't made an effort to find it after 2 and a half months I don't think they will.

[jjkoestler]

You've already done way more than most people. Time to rock some holiday music. If the library cannot use it after the holidays you could donate to one of the numerous non-profits in Madison.

[rluzinski]

I hope they had good taste in music!

[Invader3K]

I would say that is ample time. Ipods nowadays are more akin to a replaceable appliance like a toaster than the high end items they were four or five years ago.

[JimH5]

Go ahead and use it.

 

Hawing, you and I have shared our affinity for holiday music in the past. . .This year I picked up the Beach Boys, Straight No Chaser and Gladys Knight & The Pips. Plus I've been playing The New Christy Minstrels and the Ray Conniff Singers quite a bit. Plus some Dwight Yoakam, Willie Nelson, Herb Alpert and the Brian Setzer Orchestra. All Good.

 

I ordered one out of the blue from Amazon called a Bossa Nova Christmas. . .should be here today or tomorrow. . .

[Schlitz001]

Yes use it. I lost my Sony mp3 a few months ago. I didn't have any identifying marks on it to let anyone know it was mine, so I didn't really expect to get it back. If I knew that the person who found my Sony mp3 did everything that you did to try and find me, I would be very impressed and be happy to them keep it. I would suggest posting in the craiglist lost and found section, but after 2 and 1/2 months, I doubt the owner is even still looking for it.

 

BTW - Everyone should remember to put their information on all their personal devices. That's the lesson I learned.

[dadofandrew]

I'd use it for the season and then donate it to your favorite charity for them to use in their office. I think 30 days is the legal standard for finder's keepers.

 

I recall finding a wallet with $200+ in it at the store and no one called for a couple weeks. No ID, it was a child's birthday/Xmas money. But, this is way longer.

[Patrick425]

Go ahead and use it.

 

Hawing, you and I have shared our affinity for holiday music in the past. . .This year I picked up the Beach Boys, Straight No Chaser and Gladys Knight & The Pips. Plus I've been playing The New Christy Minstrels and the Ray Conniff Singers quite a bit. Plus some Dwight Yoakam, Willie Nelson, Herb Alpert and the Brian Setzer Orchestra. All Good.

 

I ordered one out of the blue from Amazon called a Bossa Nova Christmas. . .should be here today or tomorrow. . .

Ahhh..the Ray Conniff singers. That was my Mom's absolute favorite Christmas album. Everytime I hear one of their Christmas songs, it reminds me of my childhood.

 

[JimH5]

Yep. . .the Ray Conniff and Herb Alpert are straight out of my dad's record stack. I have them on CD now and the fidelity is quite good. It's funny how the music of your childhood comes back to you. . .

[GAME05]

though you're totally in the clear, you can always assuage any guilt of keeping it by giving it to charity.

"Hi. did I lose an iPod here three months ago?"
"I tried to contact you but I ended up giving it to charity."

who could possibly be mad at that?

[TooLiveBrew]

"I tried to contact you but I ended up giving it to charity."

 

The Human Fund. Money for people.

[1992casey]

As one last ditch effort to find the owner, would Apple be able to help you?

[Bikeage77]

Hawning,

You've waited long enough and made a pretty solid effort to locate the owner. I say it's all yers. I don't think you should worry about donating it either. The only reason you may want to is if others in the library think you should, you can always have it in the back to listen before or after you close.

 

One question though, how many GB?

[RockCoCougars]

As one last ditch effort to find the owner, would Apple be able to help you?

This could be an option. I thought that they had a way of tracking these things when they were stolen.

[1992casey]

Almost every iPod would be tied to an Apple ID, either to sync it with iCloud or with iTunes on one's computer. I suppose that people could use a fake name when creating an Apple ID. But if they actually use that ID to buy stuff, they'd likely have to use a real name and address for credit or debit cards to work.

 

The serial number could be of some help, too, although that could be a little muddled if the device was ever resold.

[LouisEly]

There actually is a legal standard for property abandonment. My uncle owns a large vehicle repair facility, and someone left a Ford Mustang GT convertible at his shop and never returned to pay for it. I believe after 6 months he filed official paperwork for abandonment and he was legally awarded with the car title.

[dadofandrew]

I think it is 30 days for a "found" item, but 6 months for "willingly abandoned," such as a repair that is never paid for. Back in the pizza delivery days, a garage I delivered to had hashmarks on the wall for a pair of cars, waiting for the time to be up so they could sell them legally.

[hawing]

As one last ditch effort to find the owner, would Apple be able to help you?

Well, check out this Washington Post story from earlier this week. Someone at the Post found an iPod shuffle, published the playlist in case the owner or a friend recognized it, and eventually realized that the Get Info on a purchased song would reveal the email associated with the Apple ID. So I tried viewing the tracks in iTunes, but couldn't do it without authorizing my computer to this person's account.

 

So I gave up; "Gillian" will have to find a newer way than her banged-up 80GB iPod Classic to listen to her iTunes content; and we will be rocking out, quietly, at the library to end finals week.

 

Thanks for the input!

[GAME05]

and we will be rocking out, quietly, at the library to end finals week.

to Death Metal, as you give each other prison tats. oh, i know now:)

 

the Get Info on a purchased song

what? we're supposed to buy our music?