itunes is giving me a headache....

Can someone explain to me if I will lose all data from my ipod touch when I install the new OS 4? I basically have been avoiding updating the OS because it keeps telling me that all data will be erased.
That will be a nightmare! I have so many songs on there, but what's even more important to me are the close to 80 ebooks that I have on my ereader app!! About half of them I've already read but there is another half that I still haven't gotten to...
So yea I am so confused. I want to update it because I have to do it eventually but I'm too scared!! Help???

You don't have a computer and a usb cable?

Yes of course I do it's how I plan on updating it....if I get over the paranoia of losing all of my data!
I haven't kept all of the songs and ebooks on my computer, I've made the mistake of deleting them once I put them on the ipod...
Usually I try to keep it, but I'm really disorganized when it comes to my files so i lose track of them anyway...

Anytime you reformat a harddrive data is wiped. Anytime you do a major upgrade on an os the partition it's on can be very altered. If they say the data will be wiped, then it will be wiped.

Simply copy the data back to your computer. It's no more difficult than copying data from it was.

You have to sync your iPod and then update, I've updated my iPod Touch to the new iOS 4.2 and it's fine, I lost nothing. If you do lose anything, it will be saved from the last sync and you just have to sync your iPod to the computer. Hope this helps.

Jackz, Jazzy & Ginga.