Can I save podcasts stored on a mac-formatted iPod to my PC?

I want to preserve podcasts made by a deceased family member. The podcasts were recorded on apple device, probably an iMac, loaded onto a generation 3 mac-formatted iPod and presented to the surviving spouse. My wife recently inherited the iPod and wants to preserve the material for future generations of our family.

When I connect the iPod to my PC, my local iTunes app throws this error message "iTunes has detected a Macintosh-formatted iPod. You must restore this iPod before you can use it on Windows."

My research to date seems to affirm my suspicion that "restoring" in this case means re-formatting the iPod hard drive, which then means losing all of the podcasts currently residing on it.

I own the iPod and an iPad 2.

I would like to store the podcasts on my PC.

Are my preservation efforts pretty much confined to the Apple architecture or is there a way to get these podcasts to my PC?

While all replies will be appreciated, I may need some guidance with highly-technical advice.