Disclaimer: I don't guarantee that I am correct in my assessment of what happened, but the circumstances point towards it.

I was syncing (synching?) my empeg with Emplode when I had the bright idea of syncing my iPod (with completely unrelated files) at the same time. It appears that the moment I started iTunes, emplode locked up and trashed the empeg's database, while at the same time iTunes wouldn't recognize the iPod.

I could not get the iPod to unmount, I had to use Windows Task Manger to shut down Emplode, and the end result was two non-functioning players. I was able to revive the empeg by disconnecting the USB connection and waiting for it to time out, then re-booted, cleaned up the orphans, and re-synced.

The iPod is bricked. I can force a reset, get the Apple logo, then a warning symbol and message "www/apple.com/support/ipod", but there is nothing at that site that helps me.

SWMBO has one of those Apple service deals where they will fix anything wrong with your Apple product for free, so maybe tomorrow we'll go and visit them. Meanwhile, I think I won't run emplode and iTunes at the same time anymore.

tanstaafl.