dual libraries in iTunes

i'm looking to set up two libraries in iTunes that run at the same time. one for local files on my powerbook and the other for everything on my external. this way whenever i plug into the external and rest of my studio I have access to everything... but when i'm not connected I'd have select music files on my powerbook. with two libraries everything could stay organized and there would be no confusion about location of files. with over 12000 songs and samples keeping everything local isn't an option, and because I often do work away from my studio, keeping everything on the external isn't either.

ideally I would just have a 'local library' and 'external library' topping the left column in iTunes. is this possible?

I did find a script that loads and saves different libraries, but it doesn't seem to work all that well. I need something reliable.

thanks.

ok I don't know if this is what you are wanting to do, but you can set up another user on your laptop and name that one external files.. and everything you want to set up with the external drive can be in this user esspecially your iTunes music library.. set up itunes in this account to look for its music on the external drive.. and share the library in itunes.. when you want to have this library working then log into this secondary user and then open itunes and fast user switch back to your account and there will be a shared account in your library named exterals music.. that is the only way I could possibly think of doing it with out a different program other then iTunes but I don't know of one.

yea id say that this is the easiest way or just repoint your libary in your iTunes options to the exteral everytime you connect it

Couldn't you put an alias in your itunes music folder that points to the external drive. Then when it's plugged in the itunes library will seem to contain all of the files both internal and external.
You won't get the two libraries in the menu but the one library will contain everything you need.
I'm not sure if this works in itunes, i think i've seen it done in iphoto so assume they all work the same way.

I'll try an check a bit later and report back

EDIT: After a little playing around it works fine.
Here's what you need to do:
Plug in your external drive, right-click on the folder where the music is and click create alias. A new folder should be created, drag this to where itunes normally looks for your music.
Now highlight all of the music in the finder and click it to start playing in itunes. It wil appear in itunes and you're done.
Now evertime you have the external plugged in it will lay the files, and if not the files won't play.
Unfortunatley all of the files remain in the itunes library, so when you unplug the external it will seem as tho all the music is still there, however it will just fail to play.

I'd recommend creating a playlist for your internal and external drives to make your life easier.

enjoy