iPod iPod & iTunes ridiculous question

I've got a 4G 20Gb iPod (very full) and am running iTunes (latest version) on my Mac Pro.

Here's the issue: I've got waaay more music than can fit on the 'Pod and the only way I can see to 'juggle' tracks is to sync the 'Pod to iTunes then just erase tracks from iTunes. However, this is tiresome and seems a crazy way to manage songs. I'd like to keep ALL tracks I own in iTunes and not have to keep erasing them to put new music on the 'Pod.

Unchecking the little 'tick' box on a track doesn't seem to do anything.

Using the playlist sync seems cumbersome.

There MUST be a better way to be able to sync only the songs I want onto the iPod!?

Why is this simple function so difficult?

Help much appreciated!

Cheers

Many thanks for the very helpful responses! Problem solved!

It is interesting how some of these 'obvious' features are sort of buried in iApps.. I must admit that I don't find them that intuitive at times.

Anyway, thanks again, finally I can use my iPod/iTunes Library properly! Yay!

Cheers