Ipod is completely unresponsive?

i have a purple 16 gb ipod nano 4th generation. today it was working just fine. i was playing solitaire on it before class started then i put it away into my pocket. i wasn't sitting on it or leaning on it in any way. when i took it out to listen to it on my way home, it just wouldnt turn on at all. i thought it might have been dead but when i clicked the buttons i didnt get the "connect to power" screen. resetting doesnt work. i plugged it into my ipod dock when i got home and it did nothing. i plugged it in to my computer and at first itunes doesnt recognize it, but after a while it shows up and says that my ipod is corrupt, and asks if id like to restore. when i click restore, a window pops up and says "extracting files" and when thats finished the window just closes and itunes freezes up. i have no idea whats wrong with it. but i cant afford to buy a new one. PLEASE HELP