How great (still) are the older generations of iPod nano?

The Los Angeles police this week broke up a gang of counterfeiters set to release fake Apple iPad nanos of past generations. Yet another sign of Apple's on the mobile A/V player market: fake old iPods are a hot commodity.

In the Los Angeles Times report, Ronald White wrote:

"This was a well-funded operation, and the counterfeits looked very authentic," said Ron Boyd, chief of the approximately 200-member L.A. Port Police force, adding that a buyer might not have noticed anything awry until he or she got home and tried to hook up with iTunes.

It appears from the story's photo that most of the units were click-wheel models from the 3rd and 4th generations of iPod. No doubt, the latest units with a touch screen would be too difficult and expensive to copy. In case, you don't remember the differences, here's Apple's iPod cheat sheet.

A couple of years ago I wrote that Microsoft wished that burglars were stealing Zunes as even after the holiday buying season, Macs and iPods were being stolen. Now, Apple is the target of counterfeiters.

I like the form factor of the 3rd generation model, the square one. I still wear it strung on a lanyard around my neck, like a low bolo tie. Few recognize it as an iPod, however, since it's square and black. Also confusing to onlookers (and thieves) are my third-party earbuds from Etymotic, which have a black cable rather than the Apple white.