(yet another) newbie with pre purchase questions

[zengeneva]

im planning to get the new 3rd gen 15GB win ipod but have some concerns before forking out A$800 (thats what it costs down here in oz) . i own a 600MB pentium3 laptop with 15GB HDD and built in firewire port. 10GB is running on XP (NTFS) and 5GB on a separate linux partition. currently im only allowing 5GB of mp3s due to the small space. i intend to use ipod to store all 5GB of mp3s plus the bulk of my cd collection that i will convert into mp3 and would be deleted once theyre added into the ipod.
i know its not a good idea but im not gonna back up all 15GB of the ipod on my HD cos thats kinda beats the purpose of me buying one in the first place. now the questions

1 - could someone explain how songs are added into ipod?
once added can it be deleted from your HD without causing
any hassle later on?

2 - could you make a playlist with songs on your ipod which are
NOT on your HD (eg deleted)? do you make playlist based on
the content of the ipod or your HD?

3 - should i get a firewire card or is it just for pc user without built
in port?

4 - should i reformat my HD from NTFS to FAT32 or would it make
no difference?

any form of help from anyone would be very much appreciated thanks

[c.c.r.]

1. It is possible to have music on your iPod that doesn't exist on your PC. Don't worry. Most iPod users use "synchronization" which makes your iPod mirror your PC's music in one way or another. However, all 4 iPod management apps for Windows allow "manual" manipulation of your iPod's contents. Fret not.

2. Yes. I don't know about MusicMatch or Ephpod, but XPlay and Media Center 9 both allow playlist creation and modification on the iPod using music that's already been loaded. The other two probably do as well, but I dunno.

3. It depends. If you have firewire already, use it first. If it doesn't work, or if it's only 4-pin and won't charge the iPod, then I suggest getting a PCI firewire card. Any generic $30 PCI firewire card will typically work. Don't get a Sound Blaster Audigy... iPod success rate is very low with that card.

4. Doesn't matter at all. Volumes on your PC can be of any file system, as long as your iPod management software can read them.

Cheers! Good luck!