4GB nano not holding many songs

I was just about to create a similar thread. I have a 2GB nano and I have only 39 songs (3.2 hours) and it's already taken up 560MB! It's suppose to hold 500 songs. I will never get anything close to that. I hope someone can help both midgetgirl and myself out.

In order to get the advertised number of songs, they should be 4MB each.

Open iTunes.
Go to prefs -> Advanced - Importing.
Make sure it is set to Import using AAC Encoder and High Quality 128 kbps).

Select the Library as the Source.
Go to Edit -> View Options. Make sure to check Kind, Bit Rate and Size, then OK.
The file sizes should be ~ 4MB per song.
What it the bit rate and Kind?

50MB per song :O! That sounds like your import settings are set to AIFF, Apple Lossless, or a majorly high bitrate. Read on for conversion to smaller file sizes 🙂

Bear in mind that the song limit advertised is based on 4 minute per song, 1MB per minute, encoded as 128 kbps in AAC format.

Check the encoding and file type of your songs. To do this, right click one the sorting columns in iTunes tick bit rate and kind, then click this new column to sort the songs by bit rate. Any songs that are encoded at higher than 128 kbps, or songs in AIFF etc. will be causing excess space to be used for storage. To change the bit rate and type of these songs you can convert them to AAC format (sound quality will be lost). Or you can reimport them from CD/Computer once you have changed the import settings as detailled below, but that could be time consuming.

To convert go to the edit menu, select preferences, click the advanced tab, and select importing.For best song capacity on the iPod, make sure that the encoder is set to "Import using AAC encoder", and "High quality 128 kbps". Hit OK. Then collect together all the high encoded songs and select them all (click the top one and hold shift, then click the bottom one). Right click the highlighted area and go to "Convert selection to AAC". This could take a while if there are many songs.

If your songs are all changed into 128kbps and are mostly all around 4 mins long, then you should get very close to the song limit 🙂

P.S. If you prefer, you can also convert to MP3 format at 128kbps, since AAC encoded at this bit rate and MP3 encoded will be just about exactly the same in terms of size. It's up to you which you prefer 🙂.

as somebody above said, you probably have the wrong encoding. i have over 1300 songs and album covers, pics, etc. on my 4gig nano and still have room to spare.

in itunes, go into the settings go to prefs -> advanced - importing. set to Import using AAC encoder and high quality 128 kbps. (as was stated in another post)

next you have to reencode all of your music.
select all of your songs in your library (apple a)
go to-> advanced on the menu bar
select convert to AAC
this will take a few minutes and then you are done.



ibook Mac OS X (10.4.3)

one more thing. if you want to save even more space encode at 64bit mono. i use only one earphone when i'm cycling (for safety) and the music still sounds good.

i changed it and re imported my CD's
You did overwrite th eother songs, correct?
If not, you will have both of them in iTunes.

besides space and speaking of audio quality, which format is better: mp3 or AAC? if they are pretty much the same, why did apple create this AAC format if it doesn't change in quality and space?

Because AAC is better than MP3 at the same bit rate.
AAC at 128 kbps sounds better than MP3 at 160 k. The file size is abou1/3 smaller.

Convert a few songs at 128k, 160k and 192k, using AAC and MP3.
Compare the sound quality and the file sizes. Pick the one that works for you.

I use AAC 160k.

like others have said change preference to a lower conversion rate. choose AAC, 128bps.
Options:
1) On the songs that are 50MB, in your library, just right click the song and choose convert to AAC. This will make a duplicate of the song and you can then remove the larger file.
2) Use a program like CD-DA Extractor to convert a number of audio files to the format you like.

For me personally. I have the songs at a high KBPS and then convert to a VBR using LAME plugin. This cuts down the song size to under 3MB. I have 1500 songs on the nano and with nearly 1GB left.

For me personally. I have the songs at a high KBPS
and then convert to a VBR using LAME plugin. This
cuts down the song size to under 3MB. I have 1500
songs on the nano and with nearly 1GB left.

Brian, what is the exact procedure you're doing to create the mp3s? What do you initially convert your CDs to before making them VBR? Also, I know on MusicMatch you can pick your VBR rate? What do you set LAME to? I've never used LAME.
Thanks.

You can convert to VBR AAC or MP3 with iTunes.

You can convert to VBR AAC or MP3 with iTunes.

I wasn't aware that I could use VBR AAC. Approximately how much space could I save using 128kbs VBR?

Well, I just did a test with "Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1". Original RIP at 128kbs AAC the CD was 33.7 Mb.
Ripping at 128kbs AAC VBR the size is 34.7 Mb.
It cost me space. Not a good alternative. Probably would work better on music with more quiet passages but that's not what I listen to most of the time.