All music gone, transferred to 'other', can't enable disk use on iTunes

it seems like there are a lot of people with similar problems but nothing exact..here goes:
-doing research on my macbook and i get a popup from itunes saying that my ipod was disconnected improperly (i didn't touch it and i wasn't even messing around on itunes)
-ipod restarts and reconnects with itunes and i get another pop up saying that "itunes cannot read the contents of the ipod. go to ipod summery and preferences and restore.
-i would just restore it and reload all the music butttttt like an idiot..i dont keep my music in my itunes cause it takes up way too much space and i never used any external hard drive or anything to back my music up (again..idiot..i know)
-so i read though a ton of forums and posts and see that im not the only one that this has happened to and everyone is saying to put it in disc mode, go to removable disk, copy all the music back to my macbook, restore my ipod, and put all the music back on. i also read something about clicking on my ipod icon on my desktop and going under ipod controls and changing some names (i dont konw if that was jsut for windows or what) but i also dont have an option of ipod controls
-the problem with that is that i can put my ipod into disk mode but that does me no good because i can't enable disk use on itunes because literally..my only option when i plug in my ipod is to restore it. under devices on the left hand menu, it just says ipod..not ipod with a bunch of sub categories like music and playlists and stuff..just ipod.
-normally..i would just give up and restore it but when i go to the about section on my actual ipod, it says that i have 50GB of "other" so that means that stuff is definitely still on it.
-so finally..my main question is:
is there ANY way to enable disk use on my iTunes without doing it through my iPod?..like i explained..when i plug my iPod in..that is not an option. and also..would i benefit from just bringing my laptop and ipod into an apple store and asking for help there or will that just be a waste of time?

The library on the iPod will have been damaged - hence the reason it appears empty, but the media files are still there taking up space and reported as "Other". Check out this post from Zevoneer for some iPod recovery options.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6273675&#6273675
Some of the tools mentioned will require a working library, but I know from experience that you can use the manual recovey method when the library is missing or damaged. If you're struggling for space you probably need to go & buy an external drive before you start. Stick the iPod in disk mode. Hold Menu+Select > 6 seconds (resets iPod) followed immediately by hold Previous & Select > 6 seconds. You can now drag the contents of iPod_Control\Music to your new hard drive. You may need to reveal hidden files & folders. Once they are on your hard drive you can create a new empty library on the drive, then import the files you have reovered and consolidate the imported library so that the files are in a standard artist\album\## track structure rather that the iPod's obscured names.
tt2

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