A recent convert from PC: External Hard drive, iTunes library, and NTFS

So I recently picked up an iBook and am using it in addition to my Toshiba laptop. My entire collection of mp3's is about 13,000 songs, occupies over 40 gig and is stored on an external hard drive. All tags are complete and accurate (That was a long, hard month!).
I would like to have my iTunes library "import" my collection, but it is far too large for the iBook HDD. If I understand correctly, I can't import it to my external HDD because being NTFS, my Mac can't write to it (and I assume "importing" involves some altering of the files or their tags). Mainly I want to take advantage of iTunes' search function.
Currently, when I want to add to my collection, I rip the CD in iTunes, Transfer it to my Creative Zen Touch, plug that into the Toshiba, then transer to the external HDD. whew.
So--what do you all recommend?
Bonus section:
Soon I will be getting an iPOd 60 Gig. Will I have any problems transferring tune to it without being able to write from the iBook to the external HDD?
ibook g4   Mac OS X (10.4.3)  

Just a thought:
So if I were to install iTunes for windows on the PC, then let it do the importing onto a separate folder on the external HDD would iTunes on the Mac recognize it as an iTunes library and let me search?
To quote Spinal Tap: "There is a fine line between clever and supid."
What side of the line is this idea on?
ibook g4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)
ibook g4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

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