Q: My iPod was stolen and the person I know has it denies it’s mine. I want to prove it is mine by matching the serial number but how can I get my iPod serial number off my computer or from iTunes without plugging in my iPod?
– Monica
A: The good news is that iTunes does store your iPod’s serial number within its configuration files. While this information is not particularly easy to find, it is certainly possible.
If you’re using a Mac, the fastest way to do this is to open the Mac “Terminal” application and type in the following command and press ENTER:
defaults read com.apple.iPod | grep Serial
Note that iTunes keeps track of every iPod you’ve ever connected to this computer, so if you have used more than one iPod with this iTunes library, they will all be listed in these results. If you see more than one serial number listed, you may have to go through the preferences in more detail to determine which iPod serial number you’re looking for. In this case, you can issue the following command in Terminal to display the entire contents of the preferences file, one screen at a time:
defaults read com.apple.iPod | more
This will provide a detailed block of information for each iPod you’ve had connected to your computer, similar to the following:
. . 000A27001BEB2E03 . . . {
. . . . Connected = 2009-05-14 23:58:17 -0400;
. . . .
"Device Class" = iPod;
. . . . "Family ID" = 15;
. . . . "Firmware Version" = 318;
. . . . "Firmware Version String" = "1.0.3";
. . . . "Games Platform ID" = 4;
. .
. . "Games Platform Version" = 1;
. . . . ID = XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX;
. . . . Language = "en-US";
. . . . "Serial Number" = XXXXXXXXXXX;
. . . .
