I understand the need to back up your Ipod and ITunes doesn't allow you to remove tracks....thought recently I stumbled upon this software(actually there's tons) called Media Monkey which allows you to copy your MP3s in whole chunks out of your Ipod very nicely...also it is actually a better replacement for Itunes in terms of sync up and transferring to Ipod as well....only problem I see so far is the song titles are given acronyms when transferred out eg.Until It Sleeps as listed on your Ipod when copied out is renamed as UIS.......hope that helps....