I've got a copy of Senuti, which I am using to extract my stuff from my iPod (all of it, including the stuff that I own CDs for--I don't really feel like ripping it all again, when it's so much faster to just copy the AAC files back from a disc to the iPod again).
Then I am restoring my iPod--for about the third time since getting it. I don't know if this is an unusual number or not, but it seems like it to me. I dunno. It's a complicated piece of equipment, I'm sure.
And then we'll see who is the boss of this iPod.