I just bought a new computer that I would like to hook up and prior to
shutting down my old one for good, I want to make sure that I can
import my entire iTunes library and playlists to the new one.

Here are the details:
- I currently store approximately 10,000 songs on my external hard
drive (I don't keep any music on my computer's hard drive).
- Of those 10,000 songs, approximately 3000 are in my iTunes library
right now. My iTunes is set up such that it knows that the location of
all my music files are on the external hard drive.
- When I look at all the folders of music that I have in my external
hard drive, there is no way (that I know of) to tell which of those
songs are in my iTunes library.  I only know what's in my library by
looking at my library list.

So in essence, what I'd like to do is duplicate my entire iTunes
experience from my old computer to my new one.  I'd love to be able to
"transfer" the entire library and all playlists to the new iTunes that
I'll be installing on my new computer.

I wish it was as easy as just hooking up my iPod to my new computer,
but for some reason, I don't think it works that way.

Any suggestions on the best way to do this?  A step by step approach
would be much appreciated.  Thanks!!

iTunes is a decent program, however, Apple makes it difficult to
transfer things across different computers.
There appears to be no way to save the playlists other than exporting
the entire library file.  Now, the way that iTunes remembers where
files are is by the drive letter, so as long as the drive letters
(C:/D:/E:/F:, etc) of the external hard drive are identical in both
computers, this should work.

In your new Itunes, some settings need to be changed first.
Go to your preferences (in windows-> Edit>>preferences), click on the
advanced tab, and then unselect the boxes next to 'keep iTunes folder
organized' and 'Copy files to iTunes music folder...'

I don't know what kind of computer you are running, but in windows->
1.)Go to File>>Export Library>> And save where you can find the file.

2.)Move the file to the new computer.

3.)Open iTunes in the new computer, go to File>>Import>>select *.XML
file type>>Open your Library.xml file.

4.)delete duplicate playlists (unavoidable, unfortunately)

and you are done.


That's to keep your original settings.  
If you want my opinion, I'd say scrap your old playlists, and when you
are in the advanced tab, set the library folder to main music folder
on your external hard drive, unselect the mentioned boxs, and have the
all of your songs listed in your library.