Unloading music from iPod into a blank library?

Question

I just made a new library for myself and I want the music that's in my iPod onto that library. The easy solution appears to be syncing the two, but in the warning box is says that the music from the library will replace the music from my iPod, so it will probably clear my iPod completely. Now i'm clueless.
On iTunes 6 I would drag the music from my iPod onto the library file manually but there isn't a seperate list for the music on the docked iPod anymore. Please help!
The old library and the new library are both on the same computer, if that helps.

Answer 1

Connect your iPod to your computer. If it is set to update automatically you'll get a message that it is linked to a different library and asking if you want to link to this one and replace all your songs etc, press "Cancel". Pressing "Erase and Sync" will irretrievably remove all the songs from your iPod. Your iPod should appear in the iTunes source list from where you can change the update setting to manual and use your iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. Also when using most of the utilities listed below your iPod needs to be enabled for disc use, changing to manual update will do this by default. Check the "manually manage music and videos" box in Summary then press the Apply button: Managing content manually on iPod
Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your iTunes from the iPod. If you have any iTunes Music Store purchases the transfer of purchased content from the iPod to authorised computers was introduced with iTunes 7. You'll find details in this article: Transfer iTunes Store purchases using iPod
The transfer of content from other sources such as songs imported from CD is designed by default to be one way from iTunes to iPod. However there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod. You'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer movies, videos, photos, podcasts and games as well. Have a look at the web pages and documentation, this is just a small selection of what's available, they are generally quite straightforward. You can also read reviews of some of them here: Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
TuneJack Windows Only
iPod2PC Windows Only
iGadget Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
iRepo Mac and Windows
iPodRip Mac & Windows
YamiPod Mac and Windows
Music Rescue Mac & Windows
iPodCopy Mac and Windows
There is also a manual method of accessing the iPod's hard drive and copying songs back to iTunes on Windows or a Mac. The procedure is a bit involved and won't recover playlists but if you're interested it's available at this link: Two-way Street: Moving Music Off the iPod
If you want to continue using the iPod with multiple libraries you'll have to keep it in manual mode, you can't "sync" that is automatically update an iPod from multiple libraries or computers. Otherwise when you've loaded the new library you can return the iPod to syncing automatically: Using iPod with Multiple computers or libraries
Something else to be aware of when using an iPod in manual mode is that the "Do Not Disconnect" message will remain on the display until you physically eject the device. In that case use Safely Remove Hardware icon in the Windows system tray on your desktop or check this link: Safely Disconnect IPod