Q: " the iPod software update server could not be contacted " what am I suppose to do now? please help.

Try disabling any anti-virus and firewall you may have.

Try:

- Powering off and then back on your router.

- iTunes for Windows: iTunes cannot contact the iPhone, iPad, or iPod software update server

- Change the DNS to either Google's or Open DNS servers

Public DNS — Google Developers

OpenDNS IP Addresses

- Try on another computer/network

- Wait if it is an Apple problem

I've been trying to restore my iPod and I've been getting this same message. I have attempted to ping the servers listed in the "Isolate the issue" section here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3297  I've tried pinging with my own computer and a remote pinging service; albert.apple.com, gs.apple.com, and mzstatic.com could not be contacted through either method. This leads me to believe that these servers are down and it is not a user-side issue.

If anyone could ping these servers and share your results, we may be able to conclude that these servers are infact down, considering we'll never see an official response from any Apple staff because that's just the way they do things.

albert.apple.com

gs.apple.com

mzstatic.com

No one can ping Apple's servers, because Apple's firewall blocks ping.

So I guess I hacked apple when I managed to ping the other servers in the list on that page.

Expect a knock on your door from the NSA momentarily...