I worked for Apple for over 3 years, and off the record there is a way to trace the ipod. On the record Apple tells the customers no there is not. We were always instructed to tell customers that there is NO way to trace the ipod. It always made me feel bad because there was a way to trace it, but Apple would not get involved. We were just told to tell the customer to file a police report, however the police are unable to trace it because Apple will not give them the information. I suppose if they had a court order or search warrant Apple would have no choice but to trace it, but then Apple would lose money because then you would get your old ipod back instead of buying a new one.