"iTunes has detected an iPod in recovery mode - Use iTunes to restore." Are you familiar with this message? If you are, but don't know what to do to connect your iPod again, have a look at these possible solutions below.

Lots of iPod users owning a PC have had issues when trying to sync their devices with iTunes. Warin is one of them. Here's what the disappointed iPod owner writes on Apple Discussions: "I have an iPod classic and am [sic] running the latest iTunes on vista home. Now [sic] here's the messed up part. As of late when I connect the iPod, it gives me a pop-up window which reads "iTunes has detected an iPod in recovery mode. You must restore this iPod before it can be used with iTunes. I tried restoring it many, many times, and till I get the same end result. [...] Has anyone else [sic] encountered this, or better yet, found a solution?"

Well Warin, yes, lots of folks using their iPods with PCs have encountered this. Both Microsoft and Apple have acknowledged the issue and have issued resolutions to it. You most likely need to change your iPod's drive letter in order to start syncing again. Here's what Apple says about your problem: "If the drive letter after iPod is mapped to a network drive or is a drive letter typically used by a hard drive, both Windows Explorer and iTunes may exhibit strange behavior in relation to the iPod."

A short-term resolution would be to change your iPod's drive letter. A long-term resolution is, of course, proceeding with restoring your iPod. Here are some details on the former, since you obviously don't want to restore your factory settings just yet.

Changing the Drive Letter of your iPod

1- Open Control Panel.
2- Double click on Administrative Tools (if you don't see Administrative Tools, look at the left column in Control Panel for a link that says "Switch to Classic View" and click it).
3- Double click on Computer Management.
4- In the left column, click on Disk Management.
5- Locate the iPod and right click on it, then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.
6- Click the Change button.
7- Use the drop-down menu to select a new drive letter.

NOTE: You need to make sure to choose a new drive letter that is not already assigned to a network drive. The drop-down menu will display all available letters that are not assigned to a physical drive. Drive letters that are assigned to a network volume will still be listed here. The best thing you could do is assign a drive letter other than a, b, c, or d - these are usually reserved for your primary system drives.

8- Click OK.
9- Click Yes on the confirmation dialog.
10- Close the Computer Management window.
11- Restart your computer.

Microsoft dubbed this issue "New Drive or Mapped Network Drive Not Available in Windows Explorer" in its Microsoft Knowledge Base (document 297694). You may also find some information from the guys behind your OS of choice right HERE. Good luck, and drop by later to tell us if this solved your problem.