You normaly need to use a piece of bloatware known as iTune media player. It will take about 300 Mb on your drive for functionalities that you get from other, beter and MUCH less invasives, applications.
If you install iTune, do a custom installation and be sure to NOT associate it with ANY media format. You must also check ALL default options, like rename files on play, relocate files on play, convert media on play,... It assume that all your files are mis-named, mis-tagged, in the wrong format and in the wrong folders...
You can also do a web search for some alternatives.
Look for "jailbreak ipod", "itune alternatives" and "itune replacement".
Electro, December 2012