Ipod Problems Again

About four months ago I started having problems with my Ipod. AGAIN! It would not sync and after a wile would not connect to Itunes. I was not that bothered as it was full but about 40% of the stuff on it I would like to have replaced with new stuff. It got to the point where I was using my backup 1GB MP3 player fulltime and the pod was gathering dust. So about two weeks ago I decided that I was not paying all that money for an Ipod and have the thing just sit on my desk. I started battering my way through forums and FAQ’s and started hacking away at the pod but anything I tried didn’t work. In the end I took it to a friend who eats Ipods for breakfast. He played with it for a bit with one hand wile juggling chainsaws with the other and balancing a pint of beer on his head. He then told me it connected fine and he can add and delete files. This gave me a little hope and I looked forward to putting my new music on it. Saturday night late I decide to plug in my now apparently working Ipod. To my complete surprise it connected. I did a restore which took about 20 min and of course the battery ran out. After a bit of a charge it carried on and told me to connect it to the mains charger to complete the restore. It restored, connected and I even put two LP's on it. I put it back on for a full charge ready to fill it up and set about stacking up Itunes. I did about 30 LP's then went to bed. So, Sunday night late I plug the Ipod in and the computer crashes. Then it was not recognised. Then it connected and Itunes locked. To cut a long story short I got a long string of problems. The last LP I tried to put on it seamed to go through the motions but nothing appeared in the list. Odd, I thought. When I checked my MP3'3 I found 90% of them had gone and the ones that were there didn't have a bit rate. I have a little program that changes the icon to the bit rate of the mp3, why I install this I'm not sure. Funny, I was not angry or upset just kind of numb. Anyway, I digress. All the folders were still there but no MP3's. The pod was forgotten and my attention turned to what the hell happened to my mp3's. The HDD showed the same amount of files and free space but the recycle bin had no mp3's in it. The internet lock went on and I started a 2 hour full virus scan which found a few tracking cookies and nothing else. I rebooted the PC then decided to have a look if any other files were missing. All else looked OK and once I returned my efforts to the MP3's I found that they were all still there and unharmed. My bed was calling so after checking another 5 times that my MP3’s really were ok I hit the sack. This morning I've had three hours on the Ipod and got the same story along with the invisible MP3's. I just give up. It's not worth the hassle. Everybody I know that has had an Ipod has had hassle of some kind with it. For me considering the amount of money you pay for an Ipod it’s just not worth what you have to go through to keep it working. To be fair I have an old Ipod but even the new models are not 100% reliable. I have a 1GB MP3 player, it connects, you can copy and delete stuff from it as is your want and it doesn’t need drivers or a program that you need a degree to use. OK so it’s not 20GB but then again at the moment neither is the Ipod. You can get a 16GB micro SD card for £37 why in the hell would you spend £145 on an Ipod that may or may not work properly. It’s not a device for playing music, it's a full time hobby that eats large amounts of time and if you’re not careful your mp3's as well. I don't think I will ever waste my money on an Ipod ever again. So it's getting stuck in with the rest of my old and half broken crap until I find a wobbly table of its thickness. I JUST GIVE UP!!!!!