Hey there folks!  Do you have an iPod? Is it acting funny? Freezing? Do you have the latest iTunes and software updates? Spending way too much money on headache medicine? Well suffer no longer!

First things first: BACKUP YOUR DATA! No matter what happens you want to keep those purchases safe,  iTunes does not allow you to redownload songs. So if you spend your hard earned paycheck on a few awesome new albums, you better save them unless you want to buy them all again.

I personally recommend copying your entire music folder to an external hard drive. But if you’d like to back up your iTunes library to CDs/DVDs , it’s quite simple to do within iTunes.  Just navigate to File, hover over library, and choose Back Up To Disc… That’s all there is to it.

If your iPod is freezing or running slowly you can always try resetting it. This will not erase your data.

For iPod touch and iPhone users this is as simple as holding down both the sleep and hold buttons until you see the apple logo.

If your iPod has a click wheel turn the hold switch on and off. Now hold the Menu and Center buttons until the apple logo appears.

For all other iPods, after toggling the hold switch, press and hold the Play/Pause and Menu buttons.

This simple technique, much like restarting your computer, could be the breath of life your device needs.

If restarting doesn’t fix the problem, and you have all the necessary  updates, the only other option would be to restore your device. Now this will erase your data so make absolutely sure all your purchases are backed up beforehand. It’s simple to do but has devastating effects.

If your device appears in iTunes, select your iPod and you will see information about it in the Summary tab of the main iTunes windows.  Now just click the Restore button and after a prompt or two watch your problems melt away.

If your device is not appearing in iTunes or it’s locked, you may need to put your iPod in Recovery Mode.

Simply hold down the Home and Sleep buttons until you see the apple logo. Now release the sleep button but take care to continue holding the Home button.

iPhone and iPod touch users should see the screen shown below.

You will soon see iTunes detect an iPod in Recovery Mode. Now you are free to restore!

Note: If you see the message “Charging… Please Wait” or you see the screen below, let your device charge for a few minutes before attempting to restore it.

I sure hope this article was able to save you some time and money. Feel free to aid us in the fight against PC disasters by joining the forums.