It seems pretty clear that Apple changed something about the dock connector sometime during the lifetime of the iPod. There's a fair number of webpages about it, and there's even a fair number of posts on the Apple.com support site talking about compatibility. What i can not find, either directly from Apple or from anyone else, is exactly which versions of the various iPods use which versions of the dock connector.

So after failing to find anything on their support page i tried going to the "contact us" page. It turns out that Apple does not do support over email! If you want to talk to someone you have to call them on the phone! They're a frickin computer company! How can they not do email support??!? I don't like the phone! I don't want to talk to someone on the phone!

For the first time ever i'm actually considering getting an iPod, but Apple is not doing a lot to induce me. Quite the opposite in fact!