Corrupt iPod file

I've had this happen twice now and can't figure out what's causing it, so I'm hoping someone else has suggestions. When I plug my iPod into my computer to update it, an error message pops up saying that the "PlayCount" file on the iPod is corrupted and unreadable and needs to be repaired using the "Chkdsk" utility. It does seem to actually be corrupted because it will not record new play counts or keep track of those songs I've played immediately before it has this issue. Both times I've used the "Restore" feature of the iPod updater, which does fix the problem, but this isn't exactly ideal because then I have to load everything back onto my iPod, which takes quite awhile because I have a few thousand songs. Does anyone have any idea why this keeps happening so I can (hopefully) prevent it from happening in the future? Oh, and this is a recent development, too. I've had the iPod since September and the first time this happened was at the end of December and then again earlier this week, and (as far as I know) I haven't been using it any differently. Thanks!