I'd be curious to know this too. When trying to get files onto my computer from my girlfriend's mp3, it mounted as a drive, but then the files were all scrambled into nonsense. We considered installed Itunes - itself a pain to have to do - but then we weren't sure if it would sync to my stuff, or risk modifying what was on her Ipod. Despite what some claim, Apple's UI is atrocious, and gives no clue as to how to go about doing what you want to do. We gave up in the end.
(So much for Apple "Just Works" - the fact that we have to ask on tech forums to sort it out says it all. On my Sandisk Sansa, I would just plug it in and have it mount as a drive, and see the files just as I put them there. It Just Works.)
Even when someone did manage to do this (I don't know what he did to make it work), the files were left as stupid itunes stuff as Perfection refers to, making it impossible to sort out.