Okay, I just did the above and lost ALL my ratings and playcounts.
Not a huge deal, but seriously, wtf? I'm sure there's some obvious thing I did wrong, or some obvious reason why this can't be done, but doesn't it make sense that a playcount from the thing that you carry around with you 8-10 hours a day would be more accurate than the playcount from software that you only use one or two hours a day, if that?
Also, why even have the capability of changing a song's star-rating from your iPod if the ratings are going to change back into whatever they are in iTunes when you synch?
Like I said, either there's something really obvious that I did wrong, or there's a really obvious and logical explanation why this can't be done.
It's too late for me, but an answer will certainly help the next person along with the same questions.