Can I transfer iTunes playlist on XP Pro to XP machine?

Question

I need to get rid of my XP Pro computer and that's where my iTunes resides. Currently, I have a bunch of playlists (about 25 or so) and would really like to move them to the XP machine that will be my iTunes home. Can someone tell me how to do that or will my playlists be lost and need to be recreated?
I'm assuming that iTunes creates some playlist file. If so, then I suppose that all I need to know is the location of the file because it can be moved by copying it and replacing the same file on the new machine.
My iTunes library (almost 10 gigs of owned CDs) is on an external 230 Gig drive, but I didn't install iTunes on the external drive because I know it makes changes to the registry and it didn't seem to make sense to put it on an external drive. Why waste the space? (Guess the answer to that could be, because your playlist file is then on your external drive, dummy!) Importing into iTunes took a lot of time and it will take a lot more to finish my music library; the entire library's divided into playlists--some songs in multiple playlists. Grrrr....
PC   Windows XP Pro  

Answer 1

You can 'clone' the current iTunes Library from the XP Pro PC to the XP PC. This will keep all the Playlists and the metadata stored in the Library (Ratings, Play Counts, Last Played).
As your music files are stored on the ExHD, just make sure that you install the ExHD on the new PC with the music files as the same drive letter and path that they currently are in the old PC.
Then, copy the old PC's 'iTunes Library.itl' database file into the new PC's 'iTunes' folder. You will replace the newly created 'iTunes Library.itl' file that is there, with the one from the old PC. Open iTunes, and your Library will be exactly the same as before (providing you set it up correctly).
The iTunes music information (meta-data) is stored in two places: the actual individual song files themselves, and the iTunes Library database file (‘iTunes Library.itl’). There is a corresponding XML file that is created by iTunes, but not directly used. See: What are the iTunes Library files?.
Song attributes stored directly in each music file are as follows: Artist, Album, Song Title, Year, Comments, Compilation tag, Lyrics, Genre , Grouping, Composer, BPM, Album Artwork, Bit Rate & Kind (Both not tags - inherent to the file itself).
Song attributes stored in the iTunes Library database file only are: Playlists, Ratings, Play Count, Last Played, Date Added, Date Modified, Equalizer, Volume Adjustment.
Shouldn't be too difficult. You seem to have a start on the concept already.
While you're at it, make legacy copies of the ITL file for archiving and backup. This will come in handy (along with the backup music files) when you need to recreate your Library.
Post back if you have questions.