i dunno if anyone cares, but....
i got around to playing with this ipod as an external library thing some more
and have figured it out. as follows....
1. de-select auto sync if selected [manually manage ipod] and eject ipod.
2. close itunes and eject drive with library
3. re-start itunes and when it asks for library allow it to make a new one
on the local drive. it will be an empty library of course.
4. reconnect ipod [be sure auto-sync is off!] now you can open the ipod
in itunes and all the content will be available to play through the computer.
so now i can take the laptop, portable micro d/amp, and ipod mobile without
the external hard drive the music is kept on.
why bring the laptop you ask instead of just connecting the pod to the d/amp? because now i can optically connect the d/amp to the ipod.
'nuf said