[iTunes] is it safe to upgrade now?

[Becca]

I'm still using iTunes 9.something. Every once in awhile it bugs me to upgrade, but the last I heard iTunes 10 wasn't very stable. Still, iTunes 9 is starting to behave oddly, which usually means it's time to upgrade. Is it safe? 

I have no real need to upgrade. I don't have an iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch - we're all using old Nanos. but today, when I went to sync my iPod, it seems to have lost all my podcasts (the podcast names are there, the episodes "can't be found" and when I try to refresh my podcasts, nothing happens. I tried to do a connectivity test, and iTunes froze and had to be forceably shut down.)

-becca