A Vitalized iPod anyone?

Well the title doesn't really link to the main point of my blog entry, although there is some (unfortunate) relevance.
The main point of this entry is to give an example of how dependency on technology could be dangerous. As I have mentioned in an earlier blog, I have a 60gb iPod that I mainly use as an external hard drive to back up important files etc. Well a few hours ago, as I was leaving uni, I noticed that a part of my bag was incredibly damp, in fact dripping. Oh crap! I thought to myself as I opened my bag to find that I did not screw the lid on my V bottle properly, and all the contents in the pocket were soaked. Including my ipod, headphones and phone.

Although my phone was wet, it wasn't as bad as my ipod. After I dried it the best I could (with my shirt and a hand dryer) it was still very sticky and semi-responsive. Occassionally the wheel would work, and occassionally the buttons would work, and I found that it reset when I switched the Hold button on then off. When I got home I put it in the hot water cupboard for a few minutes and now it is completely unresponsive. . .

I had a look on the net to see if anyone else had had a similar incident, and found this http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/15709

Which suggests that I open the iPod (which seems impossible!), remove the battery and pretty much let it dry out completely. And apparently Apple won't attempt to repair it if there's evidence of liquid!

Anyway, I'm not too sure what to do, I'm thinking I might just leave it for a while and see if it just dries out somehow. I'm not one to look at the downside of things, but then again I'm probably going to be quite annoyed if it is perminately damaged and if the files on it are unretrievable!

Any suggestions would be great!

To sum up, I depended on my iPod as a safe and secure storage device for important files, and after a little mishap they could all be gone for good. . . Awesome (!)