I learned the hard way by disconnecting my iPod (3rd Gen.) while it was in the middle of doing something.

If your iPod appears to have crashed or frozen and you need to force it to restart, simply hold down the ‘menu’ and ‘play’ buttons simultaneously for about 5 seconds. The iPod should quit and reboot. If you have an iPhone  see my post above force restarting an iPhone.

The above method will work for older iPods with a scroll wheel or touch wheel. For newer iPods (listed below), toggle the ‘hold’ switch on and off to ‘lock’ then ‘unlock’ the iPod controls. Then press the ‘Menu’ and ‘Select’ (centre) buttons for about 10 seconds until the Apple logo appears.

• Fifth Generation iPod (also known as iPod with video)
• iPod nano (Second Generation)
• iPod nano
• iPod with color display (iPod photo)
• iPod (Click Wheel)
• iPod mini
• iPod mini (Second Generation)

If none of these solutions work, this technote emay help.

If you have locked your iPod screen and forgotten the ‘screen lock’, read this post…