OMG, It worked! The story of my iPod.

Question

(this is a long story of everything that I did wrong... you are free to skip to the last few paragraphs to see how I fixed my iPod)
A few days ago, my iPod stopped working.
I wasn't too surprised. I have a 2nd Gen 20 gig iPod (it is over 3 years old), and I am always expecting my iPod to stop working (if only as an excuse to get a new one).
Any who, by "it stopped working," I mean that it wouldn't mount. When I would plug in my iPod, it would recharge, but not show up on the desktop or in iTunes.
I want to stop now and say that the following story is, shall I say, horrific. I fully admit that I did everything I was supposed to, just in the wrong order. As you read this story, please learn from my mistakes!
As I was saying, it wouldn't mount. So off to this discussion board to try to fix it. One thing people said to do was to reset it by holding down the menu and select button. I did so. The only problem: it was still connected to my iMac. I don't think it liked that, because when I unplugged my iPod, it was in a recursive loop: it showed the Apple logo, and the HD would spin up, and you could hear it "thinking..." then the screen would go blank for a split second, then the logo would appear again, and the HD would spin up... it did this many times.
At this point, I got scared. I don't know why, but I did. Because I installed a new (3rd party) battery last month, not only did I know how to open it, it was already "broken in" (pun intended). So I opened it up and unplugged the battery. whew, it stopped the loop... but with no battery. I pugged back in the battery, and the loop started back up! oops! off came the battery, and when I plugged it in this time, it wasn't in a loop.
OK, so I have already made a few mistakes. Ready for some more?
I plugged back in my iPod, and opened Disk Utility. I tried erasing the iPod, but it got stuck on "partitioning." Then I canceled that (with a great fear that it was going to make me a $500 paperweight) and tried the iPod updater. When I ran the "restore" in the updater, it told me that I needed to run the restore. Weird.
So I tried erasing it again, this time while I was at work, hoping that it would get past the "partitioning" stage. No luck. 5 hours later, still there. So back to the discussion forms, where someone mentioned reformatting it on a PC. Luckily, over the summer I sold my soul to the Devil and bought a PC Laptop (for work, I keep telling people). In goes the iPod. I told it to reformat, and once done, I "restore"ed it from a newly downloaded iPod Software Updater. Things were actually working! I was getting my hopes up!
Out of the PC my iPod goes. I figured that since I had reformatted it on my PC, I would need to reformat it again on my Mac. Nope. I just plugged it in, and it asked me what name I wanted to give it. A few keystrokes later, and iTunes was downloading my song!!!
Joy!!! My iPod is back working again!!! I lost the information that was on it (mostly backup files, a few small things I need), but it was worth NOT HAVING A DOORSTOP!!!
So, if you have a nice, expensive hand warmer, try plugging it into a PC! First, download the iPod Updater. Then, reformat the iPod. Lastly, restore the iPod with the newly downloaded software. You are good to go!
There are two things I want to say:
First: I know that with everything that was going on, I might have missed a few steps or moved a few things around, but the story as a whole is true.
Secondly: I claim no responsibility to my above claims. If this doesn't work for you, don't come crying to me (feel free to say that it didn't work, but NO WHINING!)
Matthew

Answer 1

OK, so on your new computer, are you logged on with the same iTunes logon that you had on the old computer? If so, then you can go into the iTunes Store on that computer, and re-select each of the songs or albums you had previously purchased (one at at time). Be sure to select the exact same song or album (for instance, if a particular song is available on two different albums, or by itself, be sure that you select the same place you originally selected that song from). Then select the "Buy" button. It will ask for your AppleID password - key it in and press Enter.
iTunes should come back to you and say "You have already purchased this song. Do you want to download it again for free?" Say yes, and it will download your previously purchased song to your new iTunes Library. Once it is downloaded, sync your iPod, and you should be all set!
Note: if it says are you sure you want to purchase it - then you have either selected the wrong "version" of the song/album or have not signed on with the AppleID originally used to purchase that song/album.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
GB