iPod iPod keeping all the songs!

[mrdeluxe]

Ok, here is the deal:

I have a 80 GB Macbook Pro and I'm always struggling for free space.
I have, however, a 30 GB music library in it. I don't listen to all the music but I can't get myself to delete any as well.

This Christmas I'll get myself a 80GB iPod and I'm thinking that with all that new space I could essentially transport my iTunes library to it and always play music from it. That would free 30 GB right away!

But how can I do this?

Preferably I would like for the iTunes to recognize the songs on the iPod as it does now from the MBP HD, complete with playlists, ratings, artwork, etc... including my subscribed podcasts.

I know that by doing this I carry the risk of loosing it all if my iPod gets lost/stolen, but I have a desktop PC that serves mainly as back-up and I can keep a copy of all my music there as well.

I read that I could make the iTunes target folder a alias, but wouldn't that mess everything up if my iPod is not connected?

I would appreciate any tips you could give me.

Thank you in advance.

 

[mad jew]

I'd get the iPod set to manually manage the songs. That'll let you simply drag your tracks across to it form iTunes and then delete them from your machine. It should also mean that when you plug your iPod into the computer again, it'll let you play from the iPod's library and playlists.

 

[mrdeluxe]

Thank you for the answer. That validates even more for me to buy an 80GB iPod instead of a 30GB one.

I won't delete all the songs, I think, but the ones I don't listen the most.

Also, when I tell the iPod to sync with iTunes, it won't delete the songs from the iPod that don't exist on the computer anymore, will it?

 

[mad jew]

It technically won't sync with iTunes. The iPod will behave as a separate library within iTunes which you can treat as such. You can create playlists, delete songs and do whatever you normally do in iTunes without affecting your actual iTunes library.

 

[SPinc33]

It technically won't sync with iTunes. The iPod will behave as a separate library within iTunes which you can treat as such. You can create playlists, delete songs and do whatever you normally do in iTunes without affecting your actual iTunes library.

...but be careful, because if you later change the settings to automatically update the iPod, you WILL lose anything that's on the iPod and not in iTunes. It won't copy back (although there are programs out there that do this).

 

[mad jew]

Yeah, that's a good point. It should warn you before doing this though.

 

[mrdeluxe]

Thank you for the answers! Just a quick question: Can I sync the Podcasts and not the Library?

 

[mad jew]

Automatically? Not that I know of, sorry.