Bricked iPod

Here is the situation, my iPod (4th Generation, 20 gegs) is currently unusable. Today, after fully charging the iPod using the AC adaptor, I plugged it into my machine. I didn't wait to see what was going on cause usually it gets auto mounted and synched with my iTunes podcasts. When I came back to the computer, the iPod was displaying the "Do not disconnect" message but it didn't appear to be mounted either (No iPod icon on the desktop or in iTunes). Fine, the iPod froze on me a couple of times before, so I decided to reset it like I usually do. No matter what I did the "Do not disconnect" message won't go away.

I have googled for some advice and apparently the ultimate solution is to leave it for a day or two till the battery drains. I still don't know though if this have anything to do with the recent 10.4.2 update or not.
Now only if iPods were running the Linux kernel ;)