iTunes transfer for iPhone

Hello all,
So, my new iMac should arrive any day now but before hand I would like to plan one of the more critical moves which I am a tad worried about. iTunes, and my iPhone account.

What worries me? That when I connect my iPhone to the iMac for the first time, it will some how mess up the sync and wipe my iPhone of it's music, apps, podcasts etc.

I had this once for some reason on my PC, and would like to avoid it.

So, can anyone tell me the steps I should take before connecting my iPhone to my new iMac so that if anything, it will make the copy of the iPhone to the computer and not the other way around?

One thing, I always keep my music unsynchronized, as I prefer manual control on that. But I sync the apps, contacts, notes etc.

Well, the machine came yesterday and today I tried a transfer. I did manage to retain the apps and music, but sadly it wiped my podcasts.

Looking through other web pages, it does seem that so many people get caught out on this and it's a real shame. It seems there could be such a simple solution, like a pop up box when you connect an iPhone to a brand new Mac that say's something like.

"Hi, I see you are connecting an iPhone to this mac for the first time. Click here to ensure no data is lost from your iphone during the first sync"

Other than that, so far in other aspects the move to OSX is going quite smoothly. I'm a bit lost in there, but that is to be expected.

A little too late I know, but I do think there is a setting in iTunes>Settings>Devices I think with the option to disable automatic syncing.

- Simon

Because some people don't load their media, data, etc. on their new Mac before plugging in their iPod, iPhone, iPad. There has to be something on that new Mac to actually sync with before you plug in that iOS device. I don't know if a "warning message" is the answer, but people really should know by now how syncing works.
As suggested, to be absolutely safe you can set your iTunes preferences to "manually manage".