ok, first issue is with my brothers 3rd gen Nano.
It was working perfectly ok yesterday and now nothing, it won't come on at all even after resetting (and has been charged)...is it dead ???
Is is worth fixing ? or should he just buy a new one ?

Also, he has over 2000 songs on it and is going to be pretty gutted that he would have to start again (yes i know he should have backed it up)

2nd question, how do i back up my ipod classic onto my pc so my songs are loaded on there (just in case anything happens to mine) (can i just copy all my songs into a folder or do i need some other software to help ? )

thanks kindly

The iPod Nano should be backed already up on iTunes. He shouldn't have lost any music - same goes for your iPod. iTunes contains the music libraries used to load up the iPods. If when you change iPod, you can just transfer the music from iTunes on to the new one easily.

However it's always worth having a backup of your computer's important files (music, emails, docs, pictures etc. etc.) on an external HDD

Your assuming he still has access to the PC or Mac he originally synced the devices to.

I have an old Ipod mini with a music library from an old laptop that I dont even have anymore.

Yes he still has access to the PC, but the issue is the iPod isn't coming on (although i haven't tried plugging it into the PC yet).
So not sure how to get the music off it.

Check iTunes on that PC - all the music should be there.

It's worth connecting it to that PC for about 10 mins and then try this if you can get any life out of it - otherwise try and take it to an Apple store.