Yet again, you heard it here first

Once again, as with the New Orleans levee break, markci.com is your source for future news. This from cnn.com today:

Lawsuit: iPods may cause ... eh?

Man claims decibel levels, earphones contribute to hearing loss

Thursday, February 2, 2006; Posted: 2:26 p.m. EST (19:26 GMT)

A California lawsuit filed Tuesday states that Apple's iPod players can cause hearing loss.

Apple has sold more than 42 million of the devices since they went on sale in 2001, including 14 million in the fourth quarter last year. The devices can produce sounds of more than 115 decibels, a volume that can damage the hearing of a person exposed to the sound for more than 28 seconds per day, according to the complaint.

The iPod players are "inherently defective in design and are not sufficiently adorned with adequate warnings regarding the likelihood of hearing loss," according to the complaint, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, on behalf of John Kiel Patterson, of Louisiana.

Interestingly, the guy isn't claiming he actually has hearing damage, only that Apple sold him a device that makes damage possible. Another tidbit: Apple was forced to pull iPods off the shelves in France in order to limit volumes to 100 dB, which they haven't done in the U.S.

Dave, you may want read the fine print on any future iPod software updates carefully.