drater-
let me expand on what jonat8 said:
"I keep my music libary on my external hard drive, just remember to make sure it's turned on when you start iTunes or the default music import folder will default back to HD:Users:yourusername:Music, but if it does that, if you quit and restart iTunes with the drive turned on it will go back to the external HDD again."
To answer your initial question accurately, no you can't ( i have not been able to find a way yet) run itunes COMPLETLY outside of your initial system, only the library will point to it. Itunes is "hardwired into your system **ayone reading this please let me know if you know otherwise-thanks!**
you might want to know these key details before you kill yourself (all the previous info is technically correct). Allthough, here are a few good reasons why you should not use itunes, before i list them, i'll just say i am in the middle of consolidating my meager library of 150 gigs and have been reamed many times--ohh it feels good!:
1) itunes will invariably "reset" the library in advanced prefs to your internal after you do everthing everyone else has aforementioned.
1.a. But also, sometimes it has reverted to the old library location: when you add new music to the library from anywhere else on your system(even from your external if you have them in a different folder for some reason); possibly when you add new hard/software OR upgrade OR even sometimes from simply restarting both, with and without the external turned on.
now, since you now have the old library location (sweet!), you get to experience the wonderful process of redirecting and organizing your library (unless you can get it to work by resarting which sometimes works (not always). You will need to readd/import the tracks again and delete off your internal if the cause was from a previous add.
that being said, here's what apple says to do-don't forget step 12:
Open iTunes.
From the iTunes menu, choose Preferences (In Windows, from the Edit menu,choose Preferences).
Click the Advanced button in the Preferences window.
Click the Change button in the Advanced pane.
In the Change Music Folder Location window that appears, navigate to the location where you would like your new Music folder to be created. Note: By default, your iTunes Music folder is a folder named "iTunes Music" in ~/Music/iTunes/ where the tilde "~" represents your home directory. In Windows, the default location is:
\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes
Click the New Folder button in the Change Music Folder Location window.
In the New Folder window that appears, enter the name of the new iTunes Music folder.
Click Create.
Click Choose in the Change Music Folder Location window.
Click OK in the Advanced window. A message appears that says: "Changing the location of the iTunes Music Folder requires updating the location of each of the songs in your music library. This update will not move or delete any of your song files."
Click OK.
...12....From the Advanced menu, choose Consolidate Library. A message appears that says: "Consolidating your library will copy all of your music into the iTunes Music folder. This cannot be undone."
Click Consolidate. Important: This action copies all of your music files to the new location. There must be enough hard disk space available to copy all of your music files.
After the folder has been copied, locate your original iTunes Music folder, and drag it to the Trash or Recycle Bin. Note: Don't remove the iTunes 4 Music Library files that may be in the same location as the iTunes Music folder.
Empty the Trash or Recycle Bin.
if you have a pc, save yourself the headache and get this:
http://www.jrmediacenter.com/
lata
