You certainly will not be able to use all 256 GB of storage for music. Whoever told you that was wrong. I'm fairly certain that even Apple haven't cracked that barrier yet.
Although my 128 GB iPod Touch's Storage reports that 118.4 GB of 128 GB is being used, I have never come across any storage device that can make all the declared storage available for use. I have just plugged in a brand new out-of-the-pack 64 GB memory stick into my computer and Windows reports that there is 57.9 GB free (available for me to use). There is nothing unusual about that.
Regarding the space actually available on an iPod, there are several factors to take into account:
- some space on the iPod will be required as overhead, which includes the operating system, the thing that allows it play music
- a small amount of space will be necessarily taken up by the built-in apps. These cannot be fully removed, there will always be some space used up by these apps
- the way the amount of storage is calculated means that there will never be 256 GB available for user use on a 256 GB device. Straight forward memory sticks are just the same, as mentioned above.
- some space is required for working use. In other words, so that the iPod can do what you want it to do
I'm not sure just how much space you will have, but my personal view is that 210.82 GB is probably about as much as you will get.
I suggest therefore, that you think about this in a different way.
I have a 128GB iPod Touch and my iTunes Library is currently 164.39 GB - so as you can see, I already have the problem. Like you, I tend to play my Library on shuffle. My solution has been to let a Sync remove songs that I've played since the last Sync, leaving space to add songs that haven't been played for a while. This is achieved by using Smart playlists to add and remove songs. Ah but - you are probably saying - what about the songs I want on my iPod all the time? No problem, another Smart playlist or even just selecting the artist etc, deals with that.
These Smart Playlists are simply the method for adding and removing music, I do not need to use them to play the music.
If the idea interests you, I can easily help you set up a Smart Playlist or two. A basic one is easy and then it can be tweaked to suit your requirements. (That won't of course, extend to the requirement of getting more than 256 GB of music onto a 256 GB device, sorry). You can set them up in iTunes and test them without the need of an iPod. Feel free to ask.
