iPod in recovery mode, how do I make it stop? Why is my iPod Nano 6th generation playing in recovery mode? How do I take it off of recovery mode?
If an iPod is in recovery mode, something is wrong with the iPod that needs to recover. Thus, it needs to be plugged into iTunes so it can be restored before it can play again.

This is caused by a problem with the software, and iTunes is the way to fix it.