iPod corrupt, cannot restore or reformat

I have an 80GB iPod that I bought about a year ago. Over the past few weeks, it has begun to freeze up or skip through tracks when I try to play things I haven't heard in a while. When I plugged the iPod in and tried to play those tracks via iTunes on the iPod, iTunes would show an exclamation point by the track, and my computer would freeze up.

The problem has become worse and worse. Now it will not stay connected to the computer long enough for me to do a restore. I've tried plugging it in normally and in disk mode; either way, there is no time for me to do anything.

I should point out that I am able to listen to select files on the iPod still. I just cannot plug the thing in anymore to add files, restore it, or whatever.