Windows iPod having seizures, should I plug it into my mac?

[unexpectedgift]

My sister's 80G ipod is having these weird moments when she plugs it in to her (disgustingly un-loved, slow, dying, and never maintenanced) PC. It doesn't do the "do not disconnect" screen--it goes to a blank white and refuses to power off, connect to iTunes, or do anything except "stare." we've tried to let it seize up like this, but unless one ejects/unplugs (which does not change the screen) and lets it drain out of power, there's no way to fix the problem.

Now, I have a mac. A beautiful mac whose iTunes I have authorized for her use. Now, my brother, who pretends to know these things, tells me that if she ever dares plug her iPod into my computer, it'll kill the formatting and will also delete all 17 days of music on her iPod, and she won't be able to get her music or formatting back ever again.

Since I know I don't want to waste over $3k of my sister's money (price of iPod and music combined) and you guys are the gurus of iPod and mac, what should I do?

 

[unexpectedgift]

Oh, might I add (as it was a little muddled in the original post) that the only reason I want to plug the iPod into my mac is to eliminate/confirm the possibility that my sister's computer is causing these "seizures."

 

[Decade]

Does rebooting the iPod not work? http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61705

I suppose there's the possibility for data loss if the directory structure on the iPod is corrupted. That's fairly unlikely. I plug my (PC-formatted) iPod into my Macs all the time. I also manage my iPod's library manually, but iTunes is written not to clobber your iPod if it's set to sync to another computer.

I think it's a bad idea to put the only copy of your music on the iPod. If it dies, you should be out only the (up to) $600 (or however much these things cost these days), not your entire music collection. Having your music only on the iPod is also not the default setting, I think.