Windows 7 - Alternative to itunes

My son has given me his old ipod 8gb,Now I dont want to use itunes if possible is there any other method that I can connect the ipod to my pc and manage the music and some photos of my granddaughter that already on the ipod.I did connect it to the pc via the usb but cant gain access to the music etc.
Any help please.
Many thanks in advance.

A lot of alternatives: iTunes Alternatives and Similar Software - AlternativeTo.net

I'm not sure how many of those support syncing, though. I wouldn't be surprised if you can only do it with iTunes...

MediaMonkey works very well. If you need to pull other files off, SharePod is free and works great.

Thanks,I tried media monkey it didn't recognise the ipod,.

I use a paid product Sync your iPod with Windows Media Player . It's a plugin for WMP.

Winamp is also a good alternative..I've used it once and it works great.

Did it recognise your ipod or did you have to play around a bit?
Thanks for input.

Yes it actually did recognize my Ipod and I also used it for transferring songs to my it. Just try it and you will see.

Did you download the appropriate plug-in?

regarding 'winamp' I did download and installed the program all went well until it came to connect my ipod shuffle.Then winamp did not recognise the ipod I played around looked in the settings etc,But no luck looks like its back to the ''itunes''.
Thanks all for the help you provided.