I think this might hold for any musical instrument that you're trying to learn for the first time: don't buy anything too expensive (a student model maybe); in my area you can rent instruments so maybe some music shops in your area may do the same.
That's the arrangement my son and I have. I don't use autosync for mine since it's only a Nano; I just use playlists. He's unchecked all my jazz stuff but otherwise autosyncs.
Since your old ipod has more memory than your wife's, I wouldn't think it would since obviously you've figured out what to do with yours and hers. I assume you don't autosync on the present arrangement.
I think Hans' advice is the best one. That is what I do when I get a suspicious ebay email. By the way, the spammers seem to have gotten tired of the ebay scam and moved on (at least in my case).
Allen,
Have you ever tried doing it yourself. There's a company out there I think called blurb.com where you can print as many as you want, no minimums. I think you'd find a ready audience here for a book like that.
Remember that Star Trek episode when they visited a planet where everyone was a zombie except between 12:00 and 1:00 in the afternoon? They called it the Red Hour. During that time, folks could do as they pleased without consequence. I'm pretty sure that's what we're talking about here.
Return of the Archo...wait; I'm not a trekkie!
Can I go there now?