Shuffle is shuffling my brain! Sorry for talking too much...

Question

Each time I plug my shuffle in, it autoupdates right? So I uncheck the AutoUpdate... here's what happens:
Some of my music, I get from burned CDs... if iTunes doesn't detect those songs (i.e. I didn't put the CD in or the files aren't saved on the computer), it updates and erases the shuffle counterparts (the music on the shuffle playlist have !'s before the names). The problem is, my shuffle songs don't come from one CD only.
Another question is how to load music from my friend's computer-without-iTunes without:
1.) having to go through the hassle of transfering those files to my computer
2.) losing my shuffle songs that aren't in his/her computer
(of course I will have to install iTunes there)
The reason for the latter is that recently, my computer failed on me, I can't access anything. But I still want to add more music because I haven't quite filled up the 512MBs. I still charge it through the USB port, though it never reaches green... still flashing amber even after I slept all through the night. (I just turn my PC on, it just stays in the boot screen since it doesn't have any HD... so far no problems happened)
Oh, and can I use it as a storage device for both Windows and Apple at the same time without affecting the songs inside?
Other than this, it's working fine! Aside from the little static on the left earphone (which, I think came from turning the volume WAAAAAY up), I thank Apple for making such amazing products! Kudos! .... only I hope it were much, much cheaper....
:P

Answer 1

Actually, the problem is more likely the songs are set to Skip when shuffling.
Select all the songs, right click - get info.
Click the Options tab.
Check Skip when shuffling and set it to No.