Clear & Install - what will happen to my itunes

Hi there!

I'm thinking of installing 10.4 and wiping the drive clean first, without doing Archive and Install.

My question is this -

All my i-tunes are on an external hard-drive and are directed to it. What will happen to them if I Clear and Install? Will I be able to get back to them when I upgrade? Is there any precautions I could take to avoid losing them altogether?

Many thanks for your help!

If everything is on the external no problem.
When you open iTunes in the new OS, you will need to change the location of your iTunes folder in preferences, when prompted simply select the library on your external drive, consolidate your library, and you'll be away.

I guess my question is - why would you feel the need to do a clean install in the first place?

One of the bad habits that many people carry over from the Windows world is that they feel compelled to do a clean install periodically. UNIX-based operating systems (like Linux and OS X) simply don't suffer from the same kind of "Windows rot". There is no registry and most software installations do not modify the core of the OS. So, if you feel you have to have a squeaky clean install, simply create a new account for yourself, log out and log into the new one.