My ipod has a black screen with the light apple in

It sounds like you have it in RESET mode or it was udating the firmware from Itunes......1. plug it back in the computer that it was last used on when this happend or 2. Try manualy reset it yourself by holding the CENTER and MENU button at the same time for at least 10 seconds.

PLEASE make sure you have it charged up before you do this...(if it will) if it does not charge from your computer with the usb cable then try a external power supply or use a Firewire connection to the computer. Note that the Firewire will only charge the unit it will not be able to transfer music with it.........Good luck! :)