iPod Transfering Library from External HD to Ipod

OKay so I just bought my 650gb external drive and am in the process of ripping my cd's into apple lossless format on the external. I went into preferences/ advanced and changed my Itunes folder to my external drive, is that the right way to do it? When I look on my normal c drive it still says that my Itunes folder is there even though the cd's I just ripped are located on the external.Is that normal?

My main Question is now that I'm putting all my cd's into Lossless when it comes time to export them to my Ipod can I downgrade them to 256 on the fly or do I have to import them all back onto my computer hard drive then transfer them to the ipod in a lower bit rate? I hope this makes sence.

Thanks

Blue Velvet said:

No, you cannot rip them on the fly unless you have a Shuffle. It's a feature that many people have been clamouring for for years. Here are some solutions for those juggling lossless files:

1. Keep two parallel libraries
2. Use lossless files on your iPod with smart playlists to manage the content
3. If you have a Mac, you can use an AppleScript like this one:

Click to expand...

Thanks Blue Velvet. The problem is that I have about 90gb worth of music going onto a 120gb classic and I can't keep them on my internal drive that is why I got the External drive. So can I at least do sections at a time? Take like 50cd's from the external put them on my computer covert them to a lower bit rate then put them on the ipod?

Can someone please help? I want to start ripping my cd's but I want to make sure I'm not wasting my time doing it in lossless on a external drive. Here I'll make the question easier. How do I go about getting my lossless library(90gb worth) off of my external hard drive and too my Ipod(120gb classic) at a lower bit rate(256). Oh and I'm using a PC. Thanks