Ipod Conflicting With External HDD Connection (WD 500GB My Book)

When my external drive (usb) is connected to my PC and I try to connect my 60GB video Ipod to the PC, the Ipod always disables the PC to external drive connection. It is evident that the Ipod is the dominant device because when my Ipod is connected and I try to connect the external drive to the PC, my PC doesn't recognize it, but immediately after I disable my ipod connection, the PC recognizes the external drive right away. This sucks because all of my music is stored on my external hard drive and I currently have to use my internal drive as a middleman to transfer my songs. Also, I use Anapod to transfer music to my Ipod, I'm not sure if this problem occurs if the Ipod was connected through I-Tunes. I currently have itunes uninstalled because I hate using it, I always end up erasing things off the ipod on mistake all of the time...Itunes is so not user-friendly!! Anapod is perfect except for the connection issue I have now. Any ideas, comments, or advice???