Apple helpfully sent out an email with detailed instructions, but if you haven’t registered your device, you picked it up second-hand or you’ve since changed your Apple ID, you won’t have the instructions. So, in any of those cases, you will want to find out if your device is eligible by checking the model first.

The iPod nano (1st gen) came out in September 2005 and was sold through December 2006. It has a flat, white or black plastic front, and a shiny metal back case, and it is tall and thin with a small rectangular LCD at the top of the device and a click-wheel control interface. You can see exactly what it looks like in the pictures attached to this article.

Once you’ve determined that yours is indeed the right kind of iPod, you’ll need to check the serial number on the back of your device, because Apple will ask you for that information when you’re going through the replacement unit ordering process. It’s located at the bottom rear of your device, on the metal back casing. See exactly where in the picture below.

With that information, you have everything you need to go through the replacement ordering process on Apple’s website. Apple says that a replacement unit will be sent out about six weeks after you send in your old nano. Apple sends you a box after your eligibility is determined, which you then use to ship your recalled device to them free of charge.

The unit that replaces your current nano will be a 1st gen model as well, according to statements made by an Apple spokesperson to Mashable. But having them replaced is a good idea even if you no longer use your nano and it’s just lying in a closet somewhere, since at the very least, you’ll get a fresh battery that should mean you’ll have another usable iPod sitting around as back-up for at least five years hence.

Apple says that personalized nanos (those with messages engraved on the back) will be replaced with clean, generic casings, so you’ll also at least be getting a brand new outer shell, too. It’s rare to see one of those shiny metal backs in pristine shape, so that’s also a good reason to get a replacement. Plus, the battery won’t overheat and burn you if you do use it, something which actually happened in around 60 incidents in Japan and prompted an earlier recall there.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
• Flash analysis: Steve Jobs
• Connected Consumer Q2: Digital music meets the cloud; e-book growth explodes

Kuneva says the issue is now in the hands of independent labs checking to see if it is in fact something integral to the devices that’s led to the incidents. Apple maintains that the problems are freak exceptions, and seems to have suggested to the EU Commission investigating the matter that users overheating lithium-ion batteries is what’s to blame.

For those not up to date, iPhone owners have reported several separate exploding screen incidents in a number of different countries, including EU member states. The similarity of the accounts and the behavior of the devices up to and including the actual explosions themselves, in addition to the mounting number of incidents reported, led the EU’s Commissioner for Consumer Protection to mount a full-scale investigation into the matter.

Apple’s line has always been that the problems are due to user abuse, not something wrong with the devices themselves. Claims by Commission members that Apple is specifically citing overheated lithium-ion batteries is the closest the company has come to pointing out a specific cause for the incidents.

Commissioner Kuneva also discussed what information she needs to act, and cited another case in which a product was proven dangerous and removed from market:

We need to have 100 percent certainty from one member state that these goods are dangerous. If I receive from the French authorities information that they are dangerous, I will act in the interests of the consumer. I will ask my network for a recall of the product as we did with the Italian (Senseo) coffee machines. There, it was proven that they burned the hands of consumers.

If confirmation comes from any member state investigating the matter in which one of the incidents occurred, a group which includes Britain and Germany in addition to France, the EU will stop the sale of the iPhone across all member countries. This won’t directly affect sales in other international markets, like the U.S., but other countries may be prompted to impose bans of their own following the EU’s findings.

There is little Apple can do at this point besides await the commission’s decision, since any admission of a hardware defect on its part would lead to a product recall and a cessation of sales anyway. Better to wait and see what independent lab testing shows, and have its hand forced in a worst-case scenario.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Mobile Q4: All Eyes Were on Android, 4G and the Rising Tablet Tide
• Report: A Mobile Video Market Overview
• In Q3, the Tablet and 4G Were the Big Stories

In mid 2008, amid growing evidence, NVIDIA acknowledged that a significant number of its previous-generation GPUs (graphics processing unit) and MCPs (media and communications processors) for notebooks are failing at higher-than-normal rates. For readers who are not aware of this story, TheAppleBlog covered this piece of news back in October.

Three weeks back, I was personally afflicted by this problem. One fine morning, after arriving at the office of a client, I took my mid-2007 MacBook Pro out of my bag and proceeded to fire it up. The MBP never got past the startup chime; there was only a blank, black screen. I took the usual troubleshooting steps: resetting the PRAM and the SMC, booting from the OS X installation disc and from an external hard drive, and finally, plugging in an external display…all to no avail. It was then that my suspicions turned to the NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT graphics card in the MBP, even though I had not ruled out a misbehaving hard drive.

Without a working display, there was no way to salvage my data unless I took apart the MBP and extricated the internal hard drive. Upon trying to boot the MBP’s system disk on an iMac, and diagnosing with DiskWarrior, it became clear that I was facing not one but two problems.

The system disk of the MBP was not booting up right. In addition to a dead graphics card, I was also facing an impending hard disk failure. Fortunately I was able to make a perfect clone with CarbonCopyCloner.

The next day, I took the MBP in to an Apple reseller for repairs. I told them that the most probable diagnosis was a failed graphics card, but, as a regular procedure, I had to pay a diagnostic fee of $58.

As I waited to hear from Apple, I braced myself for the possible cost of repair should the problem have turned out to not be the graphics card. No, I did not purchase AppleCare for this notebook, a decision I have come to regret after the Super Drive on the MBP began misbehaving and refusing to burn. ^[1]

A week later, I received a call from the reseller. Apple has confirmed that the NVIDIA graphics card has died, that they would be replacing the entire logic board, and that Apple will, true to its advisory article on this matter, honor the cost of repair on my out-of-warranty MacBook Pro. A couple of days later, I had my MBP back in my hands, back from the dead. I was even refunded the diagnostic fee I had paid.

If you own a mid-2007, late-2007, or early-2008 MacBook Pro of either the 15- or 17-inch model, you should brace yourself for the possibility that the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics card in your notebook may suddenly fail. While you can rest assured that you will not have to pay for repairs if it fails within two years after purchase, you should prepare a fallback plan if your only machine does go down. When it does, my advice is to bring along a print-out of Apple’s support article when you send your notebook in for repairs, as the reseller I went to was, incredulously, not aware of the advisory.

And the final word I have in the wake of this affair? If you own one of these MacBook Pros, expect it to fail. Oh, and also: Buy AppleCare; it will pay for itself and then some, quite possibly when you least expect it.

_{1. Strangely, after updating to OS X Leopard 10.5.6, the SuperDrive on my MBP could burn again, without the dreaded “The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media” error dialog box showing up even once.}

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Questions for the IT Industry’s Green Intentions in 2011
• Big Data, ARM and Legal Troubles Transformed Infrastructure in Q4
• In Q3, Big Data Meant Big Dollars

I registered through Apple’s web form for my replacement unit. (Because Heaven knows, I’m always looking for any reason to stick metal into a hot outlet.) Not expecting anything until around October 10th, based on Apple’s information, I received a call from my wife yesterday, wondering what I’d ordered now. I’m not sure where that finger pointing comes from, honest! Well it turns out Apple’s running ahead of schedule by a few days, and my new adapter is keeping me safe from myself and charging my iPhone all at the same time.

If you’ve got the original 3G iPhone USB adapter and haven’t replaced it yet, get over to Apple’s online form, or a Genius Bar at your local Apple Store, post haste.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Mobile Q4: All Eyes Were on Android, 4G and the Rising Tablet Tide
• Report: A Mobile Video Market Overview
• In Q3, the Tablet and 4G Were the Big Stories