Fear and Loathing and Digital Rights Management

If you have an iPod, and a PC, you need SharePod. This is why:
This morning I opened up iTunes and clicked on a podcast I wanted to hear. Not there. No problem - just listen to another of the thirty or more lined up to for my pleasure. Not there.
Concern!
Check on a music track. Not there. Try another music track. Not there.
Fear!
Open Explorer and look in the folder - empty.
Full blown panic!
Put earphones on iPod - music still there. No problem. About to pop iPod into cradle when memory strikes - DON"T DO THAT. The iPod synch is only one way. Synch now and the iPod is made to match the PC - i.e. empty.
All is not really lost - most of what I put on the iPod is from CDs that I already own - the problem is that I have about 15GB on the iPod - takes forever to load.
OK - go for a file recovery program. It finds nothing.
Go for Google - I find SharePod after many dead ends.
This nifty little program copies everything from the iPod back to your PC. After a couple of glitches caused by file names that are too long, I now have all my music files back on my PC.
Not quite yet. I had bought a couple of tracks from the music store just to see how it works. They have disappeared, as far as I can tell. Good work, Apple. Yay for Digital Rights Management.