Did a corrupted (8008) iTunes video corrupt my entire iPod (80 GB classic)?

Question

I've had a black 80 GB iPod since around the time it was first released (January 2007). Until about 6 months ago, I never had any problems with it - I could download songs, TV shows, movies, and games without experiencing any problems.
About 6 months ago, when downloading a TV show season package, I received a message on one of the episodes that I'd never seen before, error 8008 (which told me that the file was corrupted and could not be downloaded). After some unproductive back-and-forth with a representative, I gave up on the episode and deleted the file from my computer hard drive completely. Of note, even though I'd given up on the episode and removed it from my iTunes download list, it appeared on my iTunes download list randomly last week and there were no problems with the download.
But ever since the original incident 6 months ago (when I received the 8008 error message), my iPod has turned on me. Videos that I have downloaded since then (both movies and TV shows) will suddenly freeze and the iPod itself will start making this noise - kind of like a computer when it's "thinking" - and I can feel the iPod churning in my hand. This is usually accompanied by a harsh loud scratching and "bleeping" noise on the audio, and the screen goes black. On some videos, I have been able to fast-forward for several seconds and then it returns to normal. On some of these videos, I have to fast-forward several times during the video because it will happen more than once. And some videos I simply cannot watch because the iPod will not permit me to fast forward over the corrupted segments. It takes a lot of effort and many attempts at resetting before the iPod will become "unstuck." Songs and albums I've downloaded also have minor "skips" in certain places as well (kind of like a CD with a tiny scratch) but this is not as frustrating as the TV shows and movies ... a "skip" here or there is nothing compared to paying $15.99 for a movie you cannot watch!
Edited to add: None of the videos I downloaded before receiving the 8008 error have had any problems since the 8008 error appeared. I can still watch them all just as before. No skipping, no freezing, nothing. It is only videos I've downloaded since then that have had these issues.
Oh, also after the 8008 error, I began seeing a white screen I'd never seen before after turning on my iPod telling me that my iPod needed to be restored. I had never seen such a message before. Again, I followed all of the steps that Apple suggested; it kept happening anyway. I saw this message for about 4 months, but I haven't seen it since.
Currently, I have 31.80 GB free on my iPod. I have never "overloaded" my iPod and have never had less than 20 GB free at a time. I've never dropped my iPod; I keep it in a protected plastic case; I update the iTunes software every time it is available; I am not using Genius; I have never imported a video or a CD that was NOT from iTunes into my library - after my library was erased when I upgraded from the earlier version to the 80 GB model, I didn't feel like uploading my CDs all over again, so this cannot possibly be an issue related to getting a "virus" from downloading movies from the Internet.
Is my iPod corrupted forever? Will it always be a guessing game from now on as to whether a video I've downloaded will be perfectly fine or whether it will skip and freeze and not permit me to watch it? (In which case, iTunes certainly doesn't return money, as the download on their end was "successful.") How do I go about fixing this problem when the iPod - while in perfect condition otherwise because I've kept such good care of it - is no longer under warranty?

Answer 1

Also, if there's a better place to post this question, please let me know how to post it elsewhere. I tried to do so but I suppose I'm not permitted to double post in different forums?