Apple Computer released a new utility on Wednesday that resets first generation 512MB and 1GB iPod shuffles that stop responding correctly. The iPod shuffle Reset Utility erases all music and data from the shuffle, restores the original factory settings, and reinstalls software version 1.1.4.

Apple's documentation states that the Reset Utility fixes these problems:

• With the iPod shuffle switched on, pressing the Play button will cause amber and green LEDs to flash for a few seconds, and the unit will not play any music, nor can you sync music to it from iTunes.
• On a Windows PC, iPod shuffle will appear in My Computer as a "Removable Disk," however the iPod shuffle volume will not mount correctly. The unit is listed in Device Manager under Disk Drives as "Apple iPod USB Device."
• On a Mac, the unit will only be recognized in Apple System Profiler under Hardware > USB and will not appear or mount in the Finder.
• When attempting to restore, the unit may not be recognized at all. However, if it is recognized, the restore may fail with an error dialog "Firmware update failure. Disk write error" or another error. It may take 3 restore attempts before the error appears. Note: iPod shuffle may take several minutes to be recognized.

The iPod shuffle Reset Utility addresses issues that shuffle users have been complaining about for some time, and initial reports indicate that it restores functionality to some iPods that were unusable.

Additional information about the free utility, along with the download for the Mac version is available at the Apple Support Web site. A version for Windows users is available, too.