R.I.P., my iPod?

As far as I can tell, my iPod is dead.   That's right -- the gift my friends gave me last year as a going-away present may have given up the ghost.

I get the folder icon with an exclamation point next to it.  Apparently, this isn't too uncommon a problem.  Unofrtunately, I have taken all the recommended steps...and none of them work.  I still get the error. 

All of the recommended fixes are eventually supposed to lead to you being able to run the iPod Update/Restore Utility.  Trouble is, regardless of how I set things up, this program either fails to recognize the iPod or crashes.  The crash usually involves a failure to initialize.  The only thing I haven't tried is running a software change off the CD that came with the iPod, but I fail to see how this would help when all else has failed. 

This is very upsetting.  My iPod had been the lifeblood of both my commute and my work hours at the internship I just finished.  After almost a year, I'm lost without it.  If anyone has any additional advice, I'm all ears.  Otherwise, it might have to go to the great music player in the sky. 

I'm going to take it to the Apple store to morrow to see what they have to say.  And I'll have to re-evaluate whether buying a $350 music player that often breaks aone year after purchase is really worthwhile.  Though I got my iPod as a gift, the pain and risk assessment is the same.

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