Strange how I have a little tool called Ipod Music Liberator that is totally free, pulls back all your songs(no limit chav!)
Perhaps I'm just a little better at Googling than you
as for not giving you iTunes, it came with mine, I also believe that the video ones come with it. If they don't give you a copy with a Nano then yes i think that is a bit rough.
I have had my iPod for years, it dual boots Apple and Linux. its been totally reliable, even when I managed to screw it up completely it had a way of being rescued that took me minutes to find on the net.