how to "recover" music files from an iPod

1. ensure iTunes auto-sync is disabled
2. attach iPod to Mac
3. run the following commands in Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder
4. Use finder to browse the iPod in disc mode (it should show up in the left panel as a removable drive) 5. copy the folder iPOD/iPod_Control/Music to wherever you want (e.g. ~/Music/recovered) 6. disable view all above: defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
killall Finder


reference: http://macs.about.com/od/backupsarchives/ss/ipodcopy.htm