Gald we've been able to help you.
But what you say here is somewhat strange:
Rule #1: Don't erase content in iTunes if you still want it (even if you have a copy on the iPod). 🙂
Yeah, I figured that out
😉 There is a back story...
Basically at the time I ripped dozens of CD's into mp3 to be stored on my iPod, but because my PowerBook had very limited hard drive space, I was using my iPod "manually managed" and the workflow was to rip to mp3, copy to iPod, then delete from iTunes.
At one point, well after I had ripped almost all my CD's, I was flipping through the settings and noticed that in addition to "manually manage" and "automatically sync music and playlists" was a third option, "automatically sync playlists only". I thought this seemed like a reasonable compromise (doesn't that option sound like it wasn't going to touch your actual music??) and tried it... and a few clicks later all the music on my iPod was helpfully replaced (synced) with my nearly empty library in iTunes.
I was actually so disgusted by seeing all my ripping effort vanish in a puff of smoke, that I basically stopped using the iPod (after all, all my music was gone), didn't bother to start the process of re-ripping, and indeed sold that iPod a few months later.
I used this as a basis for a feature request whereby iTunes would pop up a warning dialog saying something to the effect of "Warning! This will erase the 8,317 songs on your iPod that do not exist in your iTunes library! Do you really want to do this?" rather than instant obliteration of that much data. Everyone quickly chided me for being too dumb to notice the consequences of my own actions.
🙄
I still think a warning would be a good idea.
