Using external drive for MacBook that was previously used for PC

I can't be the only person who'd had this issue...but I can't seem to find anything about this problem.
I have an external drive that I was using for my iTunes library on my PC. I recently upgraded to a MacBook. I was hoping to continue using my external drive for my iTunes library. When I plugged the external drive into the MacBook, it characteristically made my life very easy by quickly setting up itunes for me. It wasn't until the next day I realized that my entire library had been copied from the external drive onto the MacBook hard drive. This was not my intention.
It seems, however, that though my nifty new MacBook can easily read and use any files from my old external drive, it absolutely will not write to the external drive. In fact, even though I've repeatedly changed my iTunes settings to use the external drive for the iTunes library, it continues to write CD's onto the Macbook hard drive.
sigh
I'm very worried that:
1. I've now used 4 of my 5 "authorized" machines
2. I've used another move that I can make with the music I've purchased on iTunes and I will now have to use yet another move in order to make this right
3. I fear if I back up my music now, because of 1 & 2 I will lose my rights to some of my music.
If anyone has any help for any of these issues I would be very grateful! This is my first Apple in about 20 years, so be gentle!

martinifontaine wrote:
It seems, however, that though my nifty new MacBook can easily read and use any files from my old external drive, it absolutely will not write to the external drive.
i'm guessing this is a NTSF formatted drive. in order for your Mac to write to it, you need to install e.g. NTFS-3G
In fact, even though I've repeatedly changed my iTunes settings to use the external drive for the iTunes library, it continues to write CD's onto the Macbook hard drive.
above will probably take care of that
I'm very worried that:
1. I've now used 4 of my 5 "authorized" machines
you can deauthorize the PC if no longer in use. also, once you've reached the "5-computer" limit, you get the option (once per year) to *deauthorize all*, then reauthorize those in use. click here for information.
2. I've used another move that I can make with the music I've purchased on iTunes and I will now have to use yet another move in order to make this right
not sure what you mean by move.
3. I fear if I back up my music now, because of 1 & 2 I will lose my rights to some of my music.
no. you can transfer purchased content between authorized machines as much as you want. see _*iTunes for Mac: How to copy purchases between computers*_.
JGG

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powerMac G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)
powerMac G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)
powerMac G4 Mac OS X (10.4.9)
powerMac G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)
powerMac G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)
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