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633 songs=6.3gb???

I have no idea why I am just now having this problem. Never had it before. My daughter gave me her 2nd generation touch. I reset to factory settings. Synced with my iTunes. I only have 633 songs, mostly purchased from iTunes (a few ripped albums). And the memory capacity on the iPod is 6.3GB. No apps, movies, pictures, videos, etc. Just songs. And I can't find a decent answer in the forums. What is happening? (My wife is having similar weird problems with her iTunes and her new nano).

iPod touch, iOS 6.1.5

Posted on Feb 18, 2014 7:30 PM

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Posted on Feb 19, 2014 1:32 AM

First of all, where do you get the figure of 6.3GB for 633 songs? If it is simply from a message saying the iPod is full, that may not be correct. The iPod may have an amount of "Other" on it.


To confirm or refute this, with the iPod connected to your iTunes Library, look on any of the Device panes for the Capacity Bar and make a note of the space used by each item. How much space is being used by Music and cruicially, how much by Other? You may need to hover the mouse over each section in order for the figure to pop up.


If 633 songs are using 6.3GB, the next question is what Bit Rate (and format) are they in? Apple's figures for the number of songs that can fit on an iPod are based on each song being an average of four minutes long and in 128Kbps format. However, most MP3 stores (and the iTunes Store) now sell digital music at a Bit Rate of 256Kbps. So each song takes up twice as much space in storage. If every one of your songs is (for example) at least eight minutes long, then again, that's less songs that can be put onto the iPod.


Post back with the answers and we'll take it from there, because there is a solution.

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Feb 19, 2014 1:32 AM in response to Machiavelli1513

First of all, where do you get the figure of 6.3GB for 633 songs? If it is simply from a message saying the iPod is full, that may not be correct. The iPod may have an amount of "Other" on it.


To confirm or refute this, with the iPod connected to your iTunes Library, look on any of the Device panes for the Capacity Bar and make a note of the space used by each item. How much space is being used by Music and cruicially, how much by Other? You may need to hover the mouse over each section in order for the figure to pop up.


If 633 songs are using 6.3GB, the next question is what Bit Rate (and format) are they in? Apple's figures for the number of songs that can fit on an iPod are based on each song being an average of four minutes long and in 128Kbps format. However, most MP3 stores (and the iTunes Store) now sell digital music at a Bit Rate of 256Kbps. So each song takes up twice as much space in storage. If every one of your songs is (for example) at least eight minutes long, then again, that's less songs that can be put onto the iPod.


Post back with the answers and we'll take it from there, because there is a solution.

Feb 19, 2014 5:20 AM in response to the fiend

Thanks for helping me. The 6.3GB number comes from the bar at the bottom of iTunes when I try to sync the iPod with the computer. The "Other" category was only 644mb, and most of the memory used was Music. I have tried to use the boards to get as much info as possible. I also made sure the settings under preferences was set to AAC 128kbs. But does that only affect the things that I download now? Or does it change the things that I have already downloaded? I don't know how to reformat the songs if they are at the higher bitrate.


I do know that the same collection of 633 songs is only taking up 1.6gb on my iPad. And that still seems like a lot. Thanks again for your help.

Feb 19, 2014 7:35 AM in response to Machiavelli1513

Okay, "Other" is not an issue. There will always be some Other on an iPod. You only need to do something about it if it becomes too large. (644MB is not.)


But now that you have confirmed one or two things, let's analyse your library


If all your songs all had a Bit Rate of 256Kbps, 6.3GB would be approximately 778 songs. By contrast, in my Library, if I look at songs with a Bit Rate of anywhere between 279Kbps and 320Kbps, then just 393 songs take up 6.3GB. Notice the difference.


As the songs you purchased from the iTunes Store will have a Bit Rate of 256Kbps, it suggests that the "few ripped albums" that you mentioned are at a higher Bit Rate than this. So let's check them.


In your Library, highlight a few of the songs that you've ripped (from CD, or vinyl?). In Windows, right-click and choose Get Info/Summary>Bit Rate (sorry, don't know the Mac command). What Bit Rate are these ripped songs using?


I know it's all asking questions at the moment, but with a couple of tips (to follow) you will be able to reduce the space taken up by these songs.


One thing though; I don't undertsand how the same 633 songs can only be using 1.6Gb on your iPad. Not only is the difference odd, that figure is not a lot, despite what you may currently believe. In fact, it's far too low! If I look at 48 songs in my Library at 128Kbps, and the rest of my songs at lower Bit rates, I could get a total of 139 songs in 1.6GB. But some of your songs must be at 256Kbps, and I wouldn't want to listen to music at a Bit Rate of 32Kbps, which is what would be needed.

Feb 19, 2014 6:23 PM in response to the fiend

Ok, again, thanks for helping me. I have a job that prevents me from spending a lot of time on this during the day, so thanks for your patience.


I checked the songs: 256kpbs (VBR) on the ripped album, but it was also 256kbps (VBR) on the downloaded stuff from iTunes. Some of them didn't have the VBR next to them. For the record, right-clicking on a Macbook is tapping two fingers on the trackpad. Any idea how to change these over to 128kbps? Also, I reset the iPod again, and synced and now the memory for the songs is 5.3gb and somehow I gained 6 songs (639). Not sure how this happened either.


On the discrepancy between the iPad and iPod, it appears that they ripped albums won't sync with the iPad for some reason. That could be a part of the difference. Not sure how to make this happen. My favorite album is ripped.

Feb 19, 2014 9:58 PM in response to Machiavelli1513

Hello, Don't know if this helps, I'm working with an iPod 5. Ripped music is on my imac at 256kbps VBR. When you connect your iPod to your iTunes Library via the cable and go to On this iPod under Summary>Options did you check Convert higher bit rate songs to 128kbps AAC? if not, try that. Then resync your music to your iPod. At that rate I'm only using 9.92G and have 2243 songs on the iPod. Hope this helps, Good luck.

Feb 20, 2014 2:40 AM in response to Machiavelli1513

256Kbps (VBR) means Variable Bit Rate. It simply means that the Bit Rate changes during the song, while a song simply marked as 256Kbps has the same Bit Rate thoroughout the whole song.


How does it work? Well, you remember all that ghastly mathematics at school? It's that!


Machiavelli1513 wrote:


Any idea how to change these over to 128kbps?

As JEM has mentioned, with the iPod connected to your iTunes Library, look on the Device/Summary pane and select the Convert Higher Bit Rate Songs to <128Kbps> AAC. You probably need to Sync again after making that choice, just to make sure iTunes picked up the change.


Note that this is on the Summary pane, not the Options pane as JEM stated. (No offence JEM. 😀)

User uploaded file


Any song with a Bit Rate higher than 128Kbps will be converted as it's put onto your iPod, into 128Kbps, thereby saving you storage space on the device. As far as I know (I don't use this feature), iTunes keeps the original Bit Rate file in iTunes and simply changes it to 128Kbps when it puts it on the iPod and it does not make a second copy. JEM may be able to confirm or refute this for me.


Make sure you are happy with the quality of the songs now they are at a lower Bit Rate. You may not hear the difference, in which case, there's no problem.


By the way, the greyed out 128Kbps will highlight when you select the option. However, I suggest you don't try any Bit Rate lower than 128Kbps (even if it''s available) as it will make the music sound slighty awful. It may be okay for speech.


Message was edited by: the fiend

Feb 20, 2014 6:55 AM in response to the fiend

Hey Fiend, No offence taken, got a little trigger happy on the key board, thanks for clearing it up!. Only motive is to help Machiavelli.


As far as I understand it the higher bit rate remains on your computer, it only down grades on the iPod. In all honesty, you really don't hear the difference unless you really know the music and are fully focused on it, but more than likely when your listening to music on the iPod your doing other things, etc. I don't think your going to hear it. I don't and I'm a music nut! Cheers! Good luck Machievelli.

633 songs=6.3gb???

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