okay so my friend wanted me to load some songs on his shuffle, but he didn't have a charger or usb cable for it, so i picked one up from amazon
( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OBZ70C/ref=s9_simz_gw_s5_p23_t1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0S2DPW52XQHDEJTXQWM6&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846 ). just RECIEVED it today, and plugged it into my pc. my computer didn't recpgnize it, and neither did itunes. so i tried another usb port, thinking that one might be finicky. no go. went to unplug it, and the cable was hot. not the 'warm from charging' hot, but like burning to the touch hot. it even left slight burn marks on the OUTSIDE rim of the ipod headphone jack. so i immediately unplugged it from the computer and from the ipod. i waited for everything to cool down, and plugged the shuffle into my ihome dock to charge it, and to my *cough* surprise *cough*, it's not charging. so my questions are: why didn't my computer/itunes recognize the shuffle? why did the cable get retardedly hot? why isn't the ipod charging? anyone else encounter these PROBLEMS?

p.s.: i think the answer to the charging question is because the ipod got burned out from the voltage of the usb port, but even then, it wouldn't charge before that strange OCCURRENCE. that cable looks pretty shady to me.  I wouldn't recommend using a 3RD party cable unless it's from a reputable company.  You may just have a bad cable, or you may have fried the iPod. 

I would try and get my hands on someone else's official apple dock for it and see if it makes a difference.you have just killed your ipod with that generic cable..