Is there a way to restore an i pod to play on windows xp/vista that has been formated for macintosh? HELP!?

I am tryimg to play music on my i pod that is formated for mac! but i have vista/ windows and i do nort want to lose 6 gbs of audio!!! i downloaded i tunes and it still wants me to restore the device? is this the same as format, in which i will loss my music? or is there another magical way? please help!!!!!!!!!