Copying iTunes library?

[Danny Boy]

I'm trying to copy my iTunes library to a thumb-drive so that I can play it in my car ( it has a USB plug). My problem is that the car can't play apple
Lossless, which is how I've ripped all the music in iTunes. For one of my iPods, this is very easy, where you can choose to down-res your library during the sync. Is there a way to do this using the export function? Should I just copy the files and move them to the thumb-drive and then down-res them? If I did that, how would I keep iTunes from down-resign my original library. Advice please!
:)

[Darth.Titan]

Here's how I would try to handle it:

Open iTunes while holding down option (Mac) or shift (Windows).
Create a new empty library at a location of your choosing.
Set your import settings for the proper settings in iTunes.
Drag your original Library folder to the new empty iTunes window to import your tracks to the new library. I think itunes will downconvert the lossless tracks to match your current settings during the import..
Once the files are imported to the new library and converted, export the new library to your thumb drive

I'm not sure this will work, but it's what I'd try.