lakeside339 wrote:
Here's my point - I know there is a LOT more than 5MB on the ipod.
But you said 5MB, so that's what I responded to and if that's what iTunes says, why do you disbelieve it?
lakeside339 wrote:
Most of my songs are under 3 mins, and were taken from the CDs using Windows media player and seem to be in .wma. Some things are in .mp3 format. I have no idea what bit rate.
Then you need to find out, especially the wma files that were created by something other than iTunes, which is the case since iTunes doesn't rip in wma format. Select a song and then click File/Get Info/Summary>Bit Rate. You will also notice the file size listed on that pane too. Try a few songs, both the wma and the MP3s, not just one of each.
lakeside339 wrote:
but all of this, I believe is completely besides the point.
That depends, you started off with one set of circumstances and then changed to a different set. So you now have to rule out every possibilty.
I don't know how you are managing your ipod, but the results appear less than satisfactory. I think you should start by connecting the iPod to iTunes and then looking on the Device/Summary pane and making a note of what iTunes says is on the iPod. If, as you say, the Audio is taking up 6.6GB with just 287 songs, then work out exactly what that 6.6Gb is. Don't forget, it's audio, so do have other audio such as Podcasts or iTunes U on your iPod? What about video, photos, books or Apps?
It's either that, or the bit rate of the 287 songs, since you say that Other is only using 0.2GB, which I would say is a very small amount. My iPod shows 0.41GB of Other. Oh! and by the way, my iTunes says I have 3.4GB free, but the iPod says 3.3Gb free, so there will be slight discrepancies, but they aren't worth worrying about since even 19MB isn't going to get you very far.
I wouldn't spend too much time concentrating on the topic you linked to - it's eighteen months old and since there have been updates to both iTunes and your iPod since then, it probably isn't relevant.
Or, you could simply Restore your iPod which will remove everything from it and if you use Sync to manage your iPod, then whatever is selected in your Library to Sync with your iPod will be put on it, but nothing else. If there is still a problem then, I would say it's the bit rate.
By all means hope that someone else in this community has this figured out, but since you asked for "any ideas", then until you try the ones I've made, what else are you hoping for? After all, as you said, the store employee was wrong, wasn't he?