Q: my ipod was stolen

See this article for other places you could look for the serial #. If you are unable to do so still, I'm afraid you are out of luck.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1459

B-rock

go to itunes, edit, preference, and click the device tab and put your mouse over the device you want and the serial number should show up

That will not work for an iPod Classic.  That only works for iOS devices such as the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.

B-rock

Presuming you're using a Mac with OSX Lion, make your home Library Folder visible. Many utilities on MacUpdate.com will allow you to make the Library folder visible.  Look inside the Preferences folder for a preferences file called "com.apple.iPod.plist"

Open this file with TextEdit on the first line there will be some text starting with "bplist..... at the end of that line will be two numbers seperated by a underscore hyphen. The last long number after the hyphen is the serial number of the last iPod you connected to your Mac.

Example:

Last Connect“    _  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_  000A56789045D74DD

Forget what I just posted...It's rubbish. How does one delete posts on Apple Discussions? This new format is horrible. Anyway...

Better solution.

Open iTunes. Hold down the Control Key and click on the Menu Item "About iTunes" (keep the Control Key held down) and your iPod serial number will scroll past after a few seconds.

If you can't grab the number do a screen grab Cmd/Shift/3 and take the number from that or photograph the screen.

u can find it in the box of your ipod

This post is almost a month old, so I'm sure this has been resolved by now.

B-rock

Neal Jackson has the best answer and it worked.  I held down the print screen buttons as scrolling and got the serial number that way.  THANKS!!!

Thanks for sharing.

B-rock

I had lost my ipad1 .i dont know the serial number.But i recently synchronised with my windows laptop.Can i find the serial number from there?plz help me ....

I had lost my ipad1 .i dont know the serial number.But i recently synchronised with my windows laptop.Can i find the serial number from there?plz help me ....

hey, i think you should just buy a new one if the one you lost has been stolen. chances of finding a stolen ipod classic are pretty slim.

See here: iPod: How to find the serial number

You can also head to iTunes -> Preferences -> Devices and hover you mouse over the iPod's backup and the serial number should appear in a popover.

B-rock

it was really great tip...