I have to WIPE iPod every time I add music to iTunes!

Question

Hi. I seem to have everyone's problem at once.
I've just upgraded to an 80Gb Video iPod after filling up my old 20Gb click-wheel model, which still works as wonderfully as the day I bought it over 4 years ago. My new model is, however, driving me crazy! On first plugging it in, I got the Unknown error -48 that others have described, and was told that I couldn't sync. I updated, I restored, I synced again. Fine - the music was there even though iTunes was still telling me that I had the -48 error. However, every time I add a CD to my iTunes collection and then plug in my iPod, I find that the music is not added. What's more, I'm told that my iPod is synced with another iTunes library and that if I want to sync with this one it will erase all data and start over - this takes several hours and is totally unacceptable.
I also get the flashing 'do not disconnect' sign permanently whenever connected, even if there's nothing being transferred.
Weirdly, if I click on the iPod in my 'Devices' list in iTunes, I find all the menu options changed and grayed out. If I try and select, say, 'sync music' or 'sync movies' I get a message asking me if I really want to do that, since "all existing content on the iPod will be removed and replaced with the contents of your iTunes Library".
I'm a humble Apple fan who's always used Apple and is used to intuitive devices. This experience is demoralising and I'm regretting my expensive and frustrating purchase even after 1 week. Please can someone help? Do I have to send this device back to Apple?

Answer 1

At the moment there seems to be no permanent fix for error -48. The Apple fix of erasing the iPod with Disk Utility and restoring with iTunes that is mentioned in various posts appears to work for some and not others. This is the workaround I'm currently using until a reliable fix comes along. Give it a try and it may help with the secondary problems you are also experiencing.
Set up iTunes "not" to open when you connect the iPod.
Enable Disk Use on the iPod
Eject the iPod and shut down iTunes
Reconnect the iPod and open Disk Utility
Click on your iPod in the Utility pane and choose Repair Disk which will find and fix a number of errors.
Close Disk Utility and open iTunes and your iPod should connect and update as usual.
Keep the settings above and each time you connect the iPod to update it run Disk Utility repair as above before opening iTunes. It's far from being a acceptable answer but until a permanent one comes along I've found that it works for me.