Right the problem is this.
sometimes it will just lock up, like a PC that has crashed. It can do this with menu's left on the screen but completely unresponsive.
It's done this about 3 times so far. First time I took the back off, unplugged the battery, plugged it back in and it was fine. The other times I just waited a few days for the battery to go flat, recharged it and it was fine.
This time it won't start. You get an apple sign then it shows a picture of a poorly ipod and says wwww.apple.com/support/ipod If you listen close to it, it sounds like the hard disk is starting up then stopping repeatedly. so I guess this time the HDD has failed?
EDIT:
Just taken the back off, unplugged the battery again, and lo and behold it's working fine.
I just hate things like this with no real on off switch and no means to re boot them when they crash.
I tried all the multiple key presses listed on the apple site, and none worked, but a propper cold re boot does.
sounds like it's time to engineer a proper on / off switch for it.