YOU WILL LOSE ALL THE MUSIC, CONTACTS AND EVENTS ON THE iPOD. Make sure the iPod is not plugged in. Quit iTunes.
- Download and install the iPod Software 1.3 Updater.
- Run the software. It should have two disabled buttons: Update and Restore, with a message telling you to plug in an iPod.
- Plug in the iPod
- When you get your expected errors (for me, there were two windows: one asking if I wanted to open Disk Utility and another asking if I wanted to Initialize, Ignore or Eject), move all the windows aside (they still stay in front of everything) so that you can see the iPod Software Updater in the background.
- The "Restore" button should now be enabled in the iPod Updater Software. Take a deep breath, understand you'll have to put everything back on your iPod that was there, and click "Restore." I believe there will be a dialog box making sure you want to do this.
- As I recall, after an on-screen status bar, the iPod will ask to be unplugged. Do so and close the error windows you got when you plugged in the iPod the first time.
- On the iPod's screen, you'll get a status bar. When it's done with whatever it's doing, it'll give you an icon telling you to plug it back into the firewire cable. Do so.
- Your iPod should now (after a few seconds) re-appear on the desktop with a generic name. Launch iTunes and you'll get a dialog box asking what you'd like to name it, yadda yadda yadda, it's like new again.

