Bit of a long one. Apologies for Luddite language. What I want to do may not even be possible.

Basically BIG itunes library is on the BIG computer and my iPod.

It consists of tunes downloaded via CD's and itunes store purchases.

We've moved to a smaller house and the BIG computer is under the bed - we are just using new laptops.

But when I go to transfer all the music from my ipod to the new laptop it only transfers the purchased stuff.

Can I transfer everything? Or does the big computer need to make a guest visit?

Thanks!

The answer is 'yes' to both questions. Once you setup iTunes and authorise it with your account details on the laptop, the next time you attempt to sync with your iPod if it finds any purchased music on the iPod which it doesn't know about it'll transfer it across. However as you have found this only works for music purchased from the iTunes store either from within iTunes itself or from the iPod.

To get the rest you'll need to dig out the old computer, fire up iTunes and then export the entire library to (ideally) an external USB drive. This can then be re-imported back into iTunes on the laptop.

Your best bet would be to 'google' the instructions for doing so as there are a number of methods for doing it and you might want to read through it a few times first.