iPod stuck in recovery mode, won't update... ghost download

Today, I was prompted that there was a software update for my iPod, so I clicked to download and install. I left it to download and came back later to check up on it. Apparently something went awry because I noticed the iPod put itself in recovery mode, and the screen popped up on iTunes with the message: "iTunes has detected an iPod in recovery mode. You must restore this iPod before it can be used with iTunes." I'd hear of this happening to people before and thought it was no big deal, so I press "OK" and the download of the software starts again. It seems to go just fine, no disruptions, the "processing file" at the end of the download. But then, simply, nothing happens... it finishes, the download at the top disappears as thought it's completed, but the iPod still remains in recovery mode and the screen of iTunes is still the same. No error/timeout is said, it just looks done, though it's not. The message "iTunes has detected an iPod in recovery mode. You must restore this iPod before it can be used with iTunes" appears again, as if I'd not gone through the whole process. I've gone through this entire process about 5 times now and it's like a ghost download as the iPod still hasn't budged from recovery mode.

What is going on????

I have an iPod Touch 4th generation (16gb), if that helps. iTunes is the latest version, too.