Well, I don't know that much about iPods or iPhones (I've only had mine since Christmas) but just fooling around, I went to My Computer (Windows XP) and double-clicked on the Apple iPod device.
Surprisingly, it didn't find any of those so-called "hidden folders", but what it DID show was my wallpaper images, so I simply copied them onto my hard drive.
No special software, no hacks...just Windows Explorer.
Almost too simple. I must have done something wrong...