Move PART of an iTunes library to an external hard drive

So I just got a new external hard drive, and I need to free up some space on my internal hard drive. Naturally, I thought that iTunes would be a good place to start. I've read some tutorials on how to do this if I want to transfer my entire iTunes library - but I don't.
In having a laptop, there are many times when I'm off at some random location away from my stationary external HD, and so I would like to keep certain songs on my internal hard drive so that I could listen to those when I'm away from home.
My question then, is how can I transfer most of my songs to an external hard drive, maintain my ratings and play count, and still keep some of my songs on my internal hard drive? Thanks in advance for the help!

Jason
The easiest way to do this is to copy your iTunes Folder to the external. Now you have two identical libraries.
From the laptop, delete the tracks that you don't want to keep on it.
Now you have two libraries: A full one on the HD and a smaller subset on the laptop,
To choose between them? hold down the option (or alt) key when launching iTunes and select 'Choose Library'.
Regards
TD

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