i've used other people's ipods with my itunes library and my ipod with other people's libraries and nothing has ever been erased. as to whether or not you should get the 8gb...well, do you run or anything like that with your ipod cuz if not then i think it'd be a crime to pay $200 for 8gb when you could pay $250 for 80gb with the classic ipod.

if he absolutely doesn't want you to use his itunes then just download sharepod. i've used it a bunch in the past, and it works great and it's free. here's the link. http://www.sturm.net.nz/website.php?...&Page=Sharepod