iPod Classic 80gb Freezing Issues

I own an 80gb ipod classic, not sure which version, that I bought I guess about 2 years ago. I've never had any problems with it at all and have really enjoyed owning it. I have all of my music, about 33,500 songs worth, stored on an external hard drive. I used to use itunes on my old desktop pc but am now using my new 13' macbook pro that I bought last September. Just a couple of days ago, I wanted to put a couple of new albums that I had just bought on my iPod. I added them to itunes with no problem at all. When I tried to put them on my ipod, itunes froze after importing a few of the songs. I thought it might be time to restore my ipod and start from scratch. Now that I've done that, I'm trying to refill my ipod and while I am able to get some music on it, it always freezes up on me after a random amounts of songs are loaded not allowing me to get all of my music on the ipod. The side panel on itunes just keeps looking like it is trying to load and eventually, I get the beach ball. I try to eject the ipod and that won't work either. I end up having to just pull out the usb cable without ejecting. I use the manual sync option as I like to control what all goes on my ipod and I have way more gb of music on itunes than my 80gb ipod will hold. I have tried doing this on both my mac and my pc with the same freeze results on both. Is this an issue with the new version of iTunes? I am still able to get music on my iPod, but if the freezing continues, it will take me weeks to fill the stupid thing up!

I am very frustrated!! I am a total music nerd and really want to fill my ipod up again with my favorite albums! Anybody found a solution yet? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Hi. This sounds more like an iPod issue, and not iTunes.
The hard drive in the iPod sounds like it is dying. As you have restored it already I won't suggest that.
You could try re-formatting the drive, but it's unusual to need to do so.
Firstly though, connect the iPod and open Disk Utility. Then examine the iPod's drive if you can. Verify it's permissions and the disc, and then see what comes up.

Also, have a read through this:

Reformat iPod - Format iPod - Change iPod Format - Change iPod Disk Format

There may be a lot of info to help there.

It sounds to me like the hard drive inside the iPod has bitten the dust. It happens.

You can opt to replace the drive yourself (quite tricky, but there are online instructions) or replace the iPod.

Well, when I got home from work, I plugged up my ipod, restored it once again and ran it through the disk utility. Everything checked out okay from what I could tell (I'm not very tech savvy, but it didn't bring up any problems). After that, I went ahead and tried to put music on the ipod again. It was going just fine but once I had loaded close to 1,000 songs, itunes got stuck in the middle of loading an album and I couldn't get the ipod to ecect. Once again, I had to manually disonnect the usb from the ipod without ejecting. I have since tried several times to reconnect my ipod and every time itunes tells me that my ipod is corrupted and I should restore it.

I guess my days with this particular ipod are sadly finished. It frustrates me as I've only owned it since the end of September 2007. I would think it would have lasted longer than that! Regardless, I love ipods and would love to buy a new one. I'd like to get a hold of a 120 gb classic, but I don't have the money and am not sure when I will. It'll be hard to get through work everyday without my trusty ipod!!

Sad to hear, but it does happen as Chas said.
I'd avoid the classic, I've read few reports of failing HD's, which is where you are now.
Chas did mention replacing the drive yourself, may be worth it if cash is tight.