512 mb capacity

i have 100 songs and they range from 1 minute to 9 minutes.

120 songs is just an estimate from Apple based on all songs being 128kbps AAC files, of about 4 minutes each.

In reality, your 512mb iPod will hold about 512mb of content. That's the only limit.

For example, even if your songs are all 4 minutes each at 128kbps... maybe they are in MP3 format.
MP3 files are slightly larger in size than AAC files, so you'll fit less of them on the iPod because they use more space.

Rich,

"MP3 files are slightly larger in size than AAC files, so you'll fit less of them on the iPod because they use more space"

MP3 and AAC formats of the same song using the same bit rate will be essentially equal in size. This 'urban legend' arises because AAC files sound better than MP3 files at the same bit rate, so to get equal audio quality, MP3 files need to be ripped at a higher bit rate. Hence, they are then bigger.

See: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=1198340#1198340

Well, how much space do the tracks take up in iTunes?
512mb is the smallest size Shuffle available. It could be defective, but that's highly unlikely. There's only one 512mb Flash memory chip in the shuffle, so if it was bad, it's more likely that you would not be able to put any tracks on the shuffle.

Are you using Disk Mode on the shuffle? Perhaps you have some other files stored on the device that is taking up space?

Thank you for the clarification!
Learn something new every day. 🙂