How much content will fit on my iPod?

What else is on the iPod?

In iTunes 7 or later, by highlighting your iPod in the Source pane and selecting the Summary tab, you can see a graphical representation of how much space is being used on your iPod as shown below:

In addition to music files, there are several other types of files that can use up disk space on the iPod.

• Data files: Using your iPod as a disk, and copying files to iPod uses up disk space. See "Using your iPod as a hard disk" for more information.
• Videos can use up a significant amount of disk space on iPod.
• Podcasts can use up disk space on iPod, especially video podcasts.
• Photos can use up disk space on iPod, especially if you choose the option to include full-resolution photos.
• Contacts, calendars, and notes also use up disk space on iPod although this typically represents a small amount of space.
• iPod Games: Games purchased from the iTunes Store occupy a significant amount of space.
• iPod Software: Even though you might not think about it, the software needed to view and play all of your content takes up space, this is however typically a small amount.

How does song encoding affect song file size?

The encoding settings for songs you have imported from Audio CD or added to your library from other sources can affect how many songs will fit on iPod. The advertised song capacity of iPod is based on 4 minute songs encoded at 128 Kilobits per second AAC (Advanced Audio Coding). See "iTunes: About Import Settings and Hard Disk Space" for more information. Longer songs and songs encoded at a higher bitrate use up more disk space.

One more thing about iPod disk size

In iPod's About menu, the hard disk size is reported as slightly less than the technical specifications for the iPod. The same is true if you connect iPod to your computer in disk mode to look at the info or properties window for the disk.

Why the difference? Most hard disk manufacturers measure disk size this way: 1 MB = 1 million bytes (1000 * 1000). A 4 GB disk, therefore, is one that holds 4 billion bytes. Computers, including Windows computers, Macintosh computers and iPod, measure disk size this way: 1 MB = 1 048 576 bytes (1024 * 1024). The difference in these two calculations is what causes the drive to appear as 3.7 GB on a computer, but actually be a 4 billion byte disk.