Combine non-iTunes music into existing Ipod

[cbird01]

I do not own an Ipod and I am in the process of transferring 200+ CD's onto my computer via Real Player. They are being saved to the My Music Folder into folders by Artist and then by Album, with individual songs in the Album Folder. My girlfriend has an 80GB Ipod that we want to transfer all my songs to once I am complete with the ripping.

There are so many horror stories about problems with libraries, duplicates and such that I want to find the best, safest way to do this.

I would like to make playlists with just my music also. So my question is, what is the best way to safely transfer all the music to my girlfriends ipod and make playlists with my music. (first give me the best way to transfer, and at what point should I make the playlists - after or before the transfer)

Should I transfer the music folders to her hard drive then import them from her itunes......load itunes onto my computer, import all my music, make playlists, then somehow combine the two itunes libraries? OR, something completely different?

Thanks!

[cjmnews]

Probably copying the entire folder structure to her computer and importing the whole folder structure into iTunes then syncing would do it easiest. This assumes that all of your music is different than hers.

If you have duplicates, your library will have duplicates. Just use Show Duplicates on the View menu, sort by Date Added, and delete the duplicates that came from your CDs (the most recent date).