I have very recently received an Ipod (as well as a family member). In my zeal, I have been loading songs on itunes like crazy for both of us. It occurred to me that I am filling up my hard drive, and I really needed a good backup, so I purchased an external hard drive today. My question is, if I move my music files to the external hard drive, will that erase them from itunes, or otherwise create problems? My family has 2 Ipods, one which I drag and drop songs, albums, artists, etc. into. This Ipod would not be affected if the itunes music file disapeers. The other, however, syncs every time it is connected to the computer. If the songs are erased from itunes because of the new location, the Ipod will be wiped clean. Can this be avoided? Please note that I have set the synching Ipod to synch only those songs that are check marked. If I have to reload all of the songs, which is probably not to hard, I will have to check or uncheck hundreds of songs. I would like to avoid that if possible. Any Ipod/external hard drive gurus out there who can help (I can e-mail my work number if talking would be helpful).

Thanks!

Michael Siskin