My 5th-gen Nano went through the wash TWICE before I discovered it deep in the pocket of some cargo shorts. After it sat for about a week I tried to start it up, but It was apparently dead. Then, a couple of days later, in desperation I tried putting it into my freezer for about 4-5 hours (ostensibly to evaporate any moisture left). Then I dried it under a hot blow drier for a minute and was able to turn it on. After re-installing the software and recharging it, the Nano is working fine. Although the battery seems not to have the life it once did, at least I can use it a couple hours at a time before recharging.