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Friday, February 03, 2006

 

America = Sue, sue, sue, sue...

It never ceases to amaze me the things that Americans will sue - and win - over. There was the now famous McDonald's coffee lawsuit and many others. Now it appears there is the "I played my iPod too loud and now I have hearing loss" lawsuit. Come on! If your clumsy and spill coffee in your lap, or are too stupid and listen to your music too loud, that is your problem. I have traveled all over the world, and American is by far the worst when it comes to personal accountability. Are there too many rich people floating around so the middle class or poor feel they have a right to sue and get some of the goods? Whatever it is, it needs to stop and Americans need to take responsibility for their own action - McDonald's didn't make you fat, you super-sizing every meal did - sue yourself! Why is insurance so high, because we sue for everything.
Apple Hit With iPod Hearing Loss Lawsuit

The suit asks for unspecified damages, and demands that Apple Computer update the iPod software so its portable music players can't blast tunes at more than 100 decibels.

By Gregg Keizer
TechWeb News

Feb 2, 2006 12:05 PM

A Louisiana man filed a lawsuit this week claiming that Apple's iPod can cause hearing loss.

The suit, submitted to a San Jose, Calif. federal court on behalf of John Kiel Patterson of Louisiana, seeks class-action status, asks for unspecified damages, and demands that Apple Computer update the iPod software so the portable music players can't blast tunes at more than 100 decibels.

Hard on the heels of experts saying that the use of earbud-style headphone like those bundled with iPods can lead to hearing loss, Patterson's suit charges Apple with not advising users of a safe listening volume, nor including a meter on the devices to monitor decibel levels.

"The ear buds are small and are placed in the listener's ear canal, close to the cochlea,'' the lawsuit read. "The close proximity to the ear canal directly impacts the amount of hearing loss caused by the MPs [music players], simply because there is less chance of dilution of the sound.''

Apple's practice is to not comment on pending legal action, but it has made some adjustments to iPod volume in the past. In 2002, for instance, it had to restrict the devices' output to 100 decibels to sell them in France.

The last time Apple was hit with a class action was in October 2005, when disgruntled buyers of the iPod nano complained that the gizmo's screen scratched too easily.

The company's iPod line has a stranglehold on the portable digital player market, and holds an estimated 70 percent of the business globally. In January, Apple said that it sold 14 million iPods in the last three months of 2005.

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