iPod/iTunes, WMP, and a mic. Woo!

Ok, here goes:

A couple weeks ago, my intrepid girlfriend got herself an iPod. Good for her. She proceeds to install iTunes on the PC and suddenly, Windows Media Player has been bastardized. A sad day. Yes, I know. Now, I either have to go into the Device Manager and click on the "Enable Digital Playback" thing to hear any audio from cd's, but since WMP is analog, it won't allow me to rip anything until I toggle that "Enable Digital Playback" thing back off. If I do so, it WILL allow me to rip, at a noticeably reduced speed. However, I'm back to no audio coming through when either playing an music cd nor when playing back a supposedly ripped track. Either way, I CAN still hear what's already on the playlist, ripped from a time before iTunes. Sigh. What gives?

This thread's a two-parter. I'm glad you're still reading this.

So, Sunday rolls around, and I'm by now tired of listening to the same playlist on WMP (this whole time, I've pretended iTunes doesn't exist) over and over. I decide to remedy this by trying to see what audio settings I can tweak to be able to listen to new music cd's. I went into the Control Panel, then into Sounds & Devices, then into various Volume controls. Oh, no. Now a mic I use for Teamspeak (jesus, I just admitted to not only playing online games, but also to using voice for them) has a new issue. Basically, if I log onto TS, as it will henceforth be referred to as, no sound from my mic (some Logitech brand headset with mic thing that retails for 26.99 at Best Buy (I don't remember the model number)) registers. At least, it won't until I go into said Control Panel, Sounds & Devices, etc. and manually click the checkmark under Microphone (Under Voice Volume). Then, voila, my mic works. I thought I was fine until, much to my annoyance,...it shut itself off! I'm sitting there talking to myself, thinking they were able to hear me, and nothing. I have to keep clicking that damn checkmark to reactivate my mic. I can't seem to figure out how long these intervals of being active are, as it seems pretty random to me, but the only thing I know is it WILL shut itself off. I even did a system restore to a checkpoint the day before I started having this problem, but it persists without change. It was working fine until Sunday.

Again, what gives?

How do I remedy either/both situation(s)?

Thanks for reading this garbage. I appreciate any replies.