How do you stop music playback?

[akm3]

I may be a complete idiot here, but when I want to shut off my iPod Touch...how do I do that?

I don't mean holding the top and home buttons for a few seconds to hard shut it down, I mean to just 'stop' the music that is playing.

Sorry for being an idiot!

-Allen

[tefleming]

Pause it, then sleep it. Works for me.

[darren-oc]

pause the music (tap screen then the pause button) then hit sleep/wake button to sleep it or to turn it off hold sleep/wake button until red slider appears then slide to turn off.......