How do you copy from one itouch to another

Question

We have three itouches for the kids. the oldest two have purchased songs, games etc. separately on each device. The newest itouch had nothing on it and is brand new. I believe that every application that we want on this third device has to be paid for separately. That is, even though one of the kids has an application on his itouch if the other kid wants the same application I have to buy it all over again for that device.
Someone at work told me that this is not necessarily the case because more than one device can share an itunes account. However, I have a couple of ipods we used to use (the cheaper ones without a screen) that we used to use. But when we tried to download songs from one device to the other you had to copy the whole hard drive from one device to the other. So anything you had on your device to start with would be completely overwritten and you'd loose whatever you had on the device just to get a song from the other device.
Is there any way you can avoid having to buy the same application for each itouch you have in a family? It would seem that there would be some sort of discount program or family license for stuff you downloaded. I understand that to do that would be less $$s in Apple's pocket but it seems that it doesn't make sense to have multiple devices in a family. Since the game everyone wants to play is on one itouch then the other ones are just sitting collecting dust. It's like haveing 3 TVs in the house but only one cable box. I wonder if Apple would make more $$s by giving away the itouch and just have everyone download apps like crazy. Sort of the same model as Razors - they give you the razor for free but you pay throught the nose for blades for the rest of your life.
Just wondering if there was a way to make the purchase of these Itouches worth while. We're sort of kicking ourselves for letting the kids each get their own itouch. Would have been much cheaper to just get one device and let them each buy applications with their gift cards. They fight over the itouch that has the most desireable game. Seems like the marketing of the whole itunes thing was not all that well thought out, at least not not for families with kids.
Thanks.

Answer 1

You really are not getting this.
"I guess I am still completely shocked that as a parent we can't download something for everyone to use."
Why do you continue to think this although we keep telling you that this is not the case.
You do NOT have to purchase anything twice.  You can share the music with as many ipods as you like in your household.
The ipods are designed to sync with your computer regularly.  You should have been syncing these other ipods with your computer all along, thus transferring the purchases to your computer where that music can be synced to as many ipods as you like.
Take on of the ipods with the music in it.  Open itunes on your computer.  Plug in the ipod.  Do not sync.  Click File>Transfer Purchases  This will transfer the purchases from the ipod to the computer.  Make sure that you have authorized your account on the computer:  here are directions for that. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1420
Unplug the ipod.
Plug in the other ipod with purchased music.  Do not sync.  Click File>Transfer Purchases  This will transfer purchases from the ipod to the computer.
You can now plug in any of the ipods, select what you want to sync and sync.
Have a look at the manual for the ipod.  http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iPod_touch_iOS4_User_Guide.pdf