There is a tool for macs that rips ipods but I’m fairly sure it’s not available for pcs sadly (as macs are gay). I’ll ask my mac friend what it’s called and maybe that’ll help you google around for an alternative.
I’m about to have a similar problem as the backlight’s gone on my laptop and I haven’t backed up my tunes for 6 months. 🙁
…right, I’ve spoken to my mate. He said the software was called ipod ripper and that these days there is also stuff that works on pcs. I got this link: http://www.methodshop.com/mp3/ipodsupport/copyoff/index.shtml by tapping “ripping ipods” into google. It was top of the list. Looks helpful but I haven’t checked it out further than a skim read.
If you have any success let me know what you used please. Cheers. Oh and buy an external harddrive and back your tunes up on that (and actually do it unlike me 😉 )