wow that never happened to me but i hope you can get it back... all you have to do is add the music back to your library by going to itunes and click "add to library" and find the location where your music located and add it back to itunes..it probably just deleted from itunes but still on your harddrive. & i don't know how Linux work but with mac when i bought new ipods all you have to do is hook up the new ipod, name it, and sync it, takes about 5 minutes...none of that download songs again stuff ...you might want to think about switching O.S if your having problems like that
nahhhh dude if you have a large collection or music YOU SHOULD ALWAYS BACK IT UP. i prefer to back it up on my ipod. and if you think you need a program to get songs from you're ipod to your computer then LOL. people say that apple and m$ "lock them in" but really they're put you in a hole and most people are too dumb to look up and relize they can climb out. edit: not too sure about iphones cause i've never had one but i know on ipod you can set it to update MANUALLY (ie only when you want it to). most people have problems with itunes and such cause they don't really know how to work it/what they're doing. i'm not tryna sound like an ass btw if you want help just PM me i'm good with this shit.
I like sharepod, it's a small program that doesn't take over your whole computer everytime your ipod is plugged in. You can choose which songs you want to copy to your ipod and which songs to take out. Basically all the control you wish itunes had is in sharepod. Download it here, enjoy: SharePod - Download
You can skip the updates. Next time it pops up check the box that says "do not show this again" and click cancel or no or w/e. Updates are not necessary. Only the first time out of the box. And it won't need to reformat if you don't update. So adding songs takes like 30 seconds
PING WTF? I just want to listen to MY music, if I want radio I'll go with Pandora. But I've never had a huge problem with itunes that i didn't cause myself, and the iPhone thing sounds BS cause I plug mine in and it takes 5 minutes, no need to resync or anything. OP, try MusicRescue, if its on your iPod you can have it back on your computer, its a free trial too